Chapter 2

The Kinetic Theory of Gases

Definition
The Kinetic theory of Gases (KTG) is model
used to explain the relation between the
macroscopic properties (pressure, temperature,
internal energy) and microscopic properties
(mass of particles, momentum, force, kinetic
energy).

Some Assumption in TKG

In TKG, gases is assume as a ideal gas
The characteristics of ideal gas:
The number molecules is large and the gas is
very dilute.
The gases move randomly.
The distance of each particle>> size of
particle so is assume as a point
The molecules do not interact except when
they undergo collisions
The collisions are elastic.

The Ideal Gas Law

Experimentally, it is found that pressure,
volume and absolute temperature of a gas
obey the following equation of state, called
the ideal gas law;

P= pressure
V=Volume
n=number of mole gas
R=The Universal Gas Constant R=8.31 J/K
T=Temperature
N=number of particle
K= boltzamann constant 1.38 x 10-23 J/K

Example
A motorist starts trip on cold morning when the
temperature is 4oC, and checks her tire pressure at a
gas station and finds the pressure gauge reads 32 psi.
After driving all day, her tires heat up, and by afternoon
the tire temperature has risen to 50oC. Assuming the
volume of tire is constant, to what pressure will the air in
the tires have rise?
Standard temperature and pressure (stp) for a gas is
defined as 0oC (273 K) and 1 atm (1.013 x 105 Pa).
What volume does 1 mole of ideal gas occupy?

Molecular Basic of Pressure and Temperature

Assume a particle in a cubical container of

side d

 A particle moving along the positive x axis

with velocity vx will collide elastically with a
wall and bounce back with velocity vx. Its
momentum in the x direction will change
from +mvx to mvx. After striking the wall,
the particle will bounce back and travel in
the negative x direction until it strikes the
opposite wall and rebounds. Again it
moves in the positive x direction until it
strikes the first wall a second time.

 The change of particle momentum can be

found as;

The time between collisions with the first

wall is:

The force exerted on the particle by the

wall in order to change its momentum is,
from newtons second law,

mv x
changeinmomentum 2mv x
'
F

changetime
2d / v x
d

By the newtons third law, the force exterted on the wall by the particle is

F F '
The total force for exerted on the wall is the sum of the forces exerted
by each particle

m 2
F (v x1 v 2 x 2 v 2 x3 ... v 2 Nx
d
But the average value of vx2 for N particles is

2
x

1 2
(v x1 v 2 x 2 v 2 x3 ... v 2 Nx )
N

Thus:

Nm 2
F
vx
d
If one of particle has velocity component vx, vy,vz
So,

Since the motion is random v2x= v2y= v2z=1/3v2

The total force on the wall is thus

N mv 2
F (
)
3 d

The pressure on the wall is

If

We can find the temperature

The absolute temperature of gas is proportional

to the average molecular kinetic energy

Since

Thus

The last equation is called the theorem of equipartion of energy that says that each
Degree of freedom of gas contributes an amount of energy KBT to the total
energy

Example of degree of freedom

3 degrre of freedom

7 degrre of freedom

 For particle the total kinetic energy is

This equation is represented the total

internal energy of n particle
From equation the total energy we can
solve the root mean square (rms)
molecular speed
R=NAKB
M=NAm
M= mass of molecules

Example
What is the rms speed of a nitrogen
molecule (N2) in air at 300 K.

The Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution

The molecules in a gas travel at wide range of
speeds.
Distribution of speed of particles is stated by
maxwell

where m is the mass of a gas molecule, kB is

Boltzmanns constant, and T is the absolute
temperature. Observe the appearance of the
Boltzmann factor
with

From the figure we can find

Rms speed
Average speed
Most propable speed

Molar specific Heat of Gas

Molar specific heat of gas is the amount of
energy that must be added to 1 mole of
gas to increase its temperature by 1
degree.
In constant volume the specific heat is
defined as cv , where cvdT=dE, so:
For monoatomic gas
Cv=3/2R

 At constant pressure, for monatomic gas

specific heat (Cp)
Cp=3R/2 +R
Cp=5/2 R
In general, for any gas ideal,
Cp=Cv+R

Example
4.0 moles of argon gas is contained in a
cylinder at 300 K. How much heat must be
added to the gas to raise its temperature
to 600 K at
Constant volume
Constant pressure