Can you increase kinetics energy if a molecule using something other then heat?

Question

Is it possible ti increase the kinetic energy of a molecules using something other then heat? Is this possible but with ily certain molecules?

Answer 1

Joule did experiments in which a paddle wheel agitated water and the increased the temperature of the water.
It is even said that on his honeymoon Joule measured the temperature at the top and bottom of a waterfall and found that the temperature at the bottom was slightly more than at the top.
A modern equivalent is a demonstration with showing that the lead shot in a tube increases in temperature when after the tube has been inverted another of time.

We now have the first law of thermodynamics which state that the internal energy of a system, which includes the kinetic energy of the molecules, can be changed by either heating the system or doing work on the system like compressing a gas.

Answer 2

Yes you can. One way is by pulling one electron off the molecule (or atom), to give it a net positive charge. then you can use an electric field nearby to repel or attract the atom and increase its velocity, and hence its kinetic energy. this is most easily done in a vacuum and is the principle by which particle accelerators work. they can impart huge amounts of kinetic energy to atoms in this way.

Answer 3

In addition to the previously mentioned methods there are quite a lot more. For example you could use lasers to push the molecules around. You could drop them from some higher place as the potential energy would also be converted to kinetic energy. You could shoot accelerated particles at your molecule (without so much energy as to fully obliterate the molecule).

As your question is rather unspecific the most general answer I can give is: Yes you can increase the kinetic energy of molecules in many ways. Just think of all the ways you can accelerate a macroscopic object. Many of those methods would also work on single molecules.