Introduced to this in AP Chemistry
What is it
- Particles are in continuous random motion
- Between collisions particles have constant velocity and direction
- After collisions, particles have a new velocity and direction
- When particles collide, they don’t stick - Elastic collisions
- Heavier particles move slower than the lighter particles
- Pressure is caused by particles colliding with the container walls
Does molecular size matter?
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Large volume particle will collide with each other and walls of the container more often as the gas is compressed and the spacing between particles becomes less and less
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Everyday containers are significantly larger than the gas particles os particle size becomes negligible
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Ideal gases assume that particles have zero volume, like mathematical points
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Summarizes the ideal behavior of gases
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Particles have random continuous motion
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Collisions are perfectly elastic (no stickiness)
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Particles have negligible volume
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Constant temperature = constant average kinetic energy