If the temperature of a gas doubles, a. What happens to the kinetic energy of the molecules of the gas? b. What happens to the velocity of the molecules of the gas?
1 Answer
Feb 27, 2018
Well, if we are looking at a large ensemble of gas molecules at room temperature, the average kinetic energy is close to:
#K_(avg) ~~ 5/2 k_BT# in units of#"J/mol"# with three degrees of freedom in translation and two in rotation if the molecule is a simple diatomic.
#k_B# is the Boltzmann constant and of course#T# is temperature in#"K"# .
- If
#T -> 2T# , then#color(blue)(K_(avg) -> 2K_(avg))# , more or less. - And since
#K = 1/2 mv^2# , provided you use the appropriate speed (usually#v_(RMS)# ),#color(blue)(v->4v)# .
