SLO 1.1 - Kinetic Molecular Theory

Key Concepts and Skills

• Phenomenological Gas Descriptions: Understand the four key variables of state and the associated empirical gas equations of state (Boyle’s Law, Charles’s Law, Avogadro’s Principle
• Temperature: Invoke the thermodynamic definition of temperature
• Kinetic Molecular Theory: Restate the basic key assumption of kinetic molecular theory, and use the ideal gas law to predict basic behavior of a so-called ``perfect’’ gas
• Boltzmann Distribution: Interpret and plot the equation for molecular speed distributions and justify important features of the curve and how they depend on temperature and molecular mass. Solve for three key velocities (\(v_{rms}\), \(v_{mp}\), and \(v_{mean}\)).
• Equipartition Theorem: Calculate the degrees of freedom associated with a particle/molecule and assign them to either translational, rotational, or vibrational energy. Discuss the relationship between these types of molecular motion, internal energy, and heat capacity.

Reading

• From the textbook:
  • Foundations
  • Focus 1A
  • Focus 1B
• POGIL Activities
  • Extension 1.1: Kinetic Molecular Theory
• Other:
  • Kinetic Theory of Gases - Molecular Speeds
  • Distribution of Molecular Speeds
  • Kinetic Temperature
  • Engel and Reid (alternative textbook): Chapters 13 and 16

Important Terms

Sample Assessment Question

External Videos, Tutorials, Simulations

• Kinetic Molecular Theory
• Maxwell Speed Distribution Simulation

Practice Problems

• From the textbook:
  • Exercises: 1A.1, 1A.2, 1A.9, 1A.13
  • Problems: 1A.2, 1A.7
  • Exercises: 1B.1, 1B.3, 1B.5
  • Problems: 1B.3
• From other external sources:

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