•Factors affecting Internal Energy
•The internal energy can be changed by changing the temperature or volume of the object without changing the amount of particles in the object.
•Temperature: If the temperature of a system rises, the molecules will travel quicker, therefore have more kinetic energy and so the Internal Energy will increase.
•Pressure: If the pressure falls but the temp doesn’t change then there is no change in the internal energy of a system. In a non-ideal expanding gas the molecules have to overcome the attraction to each other and therefore some work must be done on them and therefore the internal energy must increase.
•State: For most materials that change from solid to liquid the volume increases and so the potential energy of the molecules increases.