Question #125644
Which best describes the motion of iron atoms in solid iron?
Expert's answer
Vibration best describes it.
Solid iron is crystalline, therefore its atoms do not move around, but only vibrate. In crystalline solids, energy is conducted through their bulk in a complicated way, which solid state physicists currently model using a quasiparticle called a phonon. The speed of a phonon through the bulk of a solid is taken to be the speed of sound in the solid, though it also indirectly defines things like thermal and electrical conductivity.
