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Abstract When compressed, certain lattices undergo phase transitions that may allow nuclei to gain sig- nificant kinetic energy. To explore the dynamics of this phenomenon, we develop a methodology to study Coulomb coupled N-body systems constrained to a sphere, as in the Thomson problem. We initialize N total Boron nuclei as point particles on the surface of the sphere, allowing them to equilibrate via Coulomb scattering with a viscous damping term. To simulate a phase transition, we remove Nrm particles, forcing the system to rearrange into a new equilibrium. With this model, we consider the Thomson problem as a dynamical system, providing a framework to explore how non-zero temperature affects structural imperfections in Thomson minima. We develop a scaling relation for the average peak kinetic energy attained by a single particle as a function of N and Nrm. For certain values of N , we find an order of magnitude energy gain when increasing Nrm from 1 to 6. The model may help to design a lattice that maximizes the energy output.