Kinetic Molecular Theory of ideal gas

Three basic states of matter

Gas: Fills a container, taking on the shape of the container. Similar to a liquid, except that particles are very
widely spaced from one another, and inter-particle interactions are minimal.

Liquid: Does not fill a container, but takes the shape of the container. Similar to gases except particles are
very closely spaced.

Solid: Does not fill a container, and does not conform to the shape of the container.
Particles are very closely packed – still much dynamic motion in a solid which increases with heating.

General properties of gases

 A gas is a state of matter which fills any container it occupies.
 Molecular picture of gas: Collection of widely separated molecules in random chaotic motion.

Hence molecules move through space freely to fill any volume.

 Gases are highly compressible hence readily confined to smaller volume.

 Gases respond readily to changes in temperature and occupy a larger volume when heated and

a smaller volume when cooled.

 Fundamental properties of gases described in terms of pressure P (units: Nm/2, atm etc.),
Volume V (units: L or m3 etc.), temperature T (unit: K, °C) and amount (unit: mol).
 General properties of gases are described in terms of three empirical laws developed by Boyle,

Charles and Avogadro which may be used to predict the behavior of gas under given conditions of

temperature, pressure and volume.

Ideal Gas
 An Ideal gas is pictured as a collection of molecules or atoms which undergo continuous random motion
(Brownian motion).
 The speeds of the gas particles increase as the temperature increases.
 The molecules are widely separated from one another, with the only interactions being with the side walls
of the container and other molecules during infrequent collisions.
  The molecules are unaffected by intermolecular forces (e.g.dipole/dipole van der Waals etc.).
 The state of a gas is defined by its pressure P, volume V, temperature T and amount n.

Pressure (P) is the force exerted by gas against the walls of the container. The SI
units of P is Pascal
1Pa =1N/m2
1 atm = 101325 Pa = 760 mmHg
1 bar =100000 Pa

Volume (V) is the space occupied by the gas. The SI unit of volume is m3
Other unit is Liter (L) where
 1 L =103 cm3 = 10-3 m3

Temperature (T) determines the kinetic energy and rate of motion of the gas particles.
The SI unit of temperature is the kelvin (K).
Other non-SI unit is Celsius (0C)
K = 0C + 273.15

Amount (n) is the quantity of gas present in a container. The SI unit of n is the
mole (mol).
n= N/NA
where NA = 6.023x1023 (Avogadro's number). N is the number of
molecules. Also,
n= M/Mw
Where M is the mass of molecules and Mw is the molecular weight
(molar mass) of one molecule.

The gas laws

Boyle’s law (1661)

At constant temperature, the pressure of a fixed amount of gas is inversely proportional to its volume:

p α1/V By treating n and T as constant, it becomes

PV = constant (at constant n and T) If we compress a fixed amount of gas at constant temperature into half

of its original volume, then its pressure will double.

The graph is obtained by plotting experimental values of P against V for a fixed amount of gas at different

temperatures and the curves predicted by Boyle’s law.

Each curve is called an isotherm because it depicts the variation of a property (in this case, the pressure) at a

single constant temperature.

Example:
Consider a gas of 100 mL confined to a cylinder under a pressure of 1 atm.

What would be the volume of the same gas at a pressure of 1.3 atm?

Solution

Boyle’s law states that the pressure of a gas (P) is inversely proportional to the volume (V) for a given of gas at
constant temperature.

PV = k where k is a constant, then,

P1V1 = P2V2

V2=P1V1 / P2

P1 = 1 atm, V1 = 0.1 L, P2 = 1.3 atm, V2 =?

V2 =1atm x 0.1L / 1.3 atm = 0.0769 L

Charles’s law (Gay-Lussac’s law)
At constant pressure, the volume of a fixed amount of gas varies linearly with the temperature:

V = constant x (Ɵ + 273.15) ,Ɵ - the temperature on the Celsius scale.

Typical plots of volume against temperature for a series of samples of gases at different pressures.

At low pressures and for temperatures those are not too low the volume varies linearly with the

Celsius temperature. All the volumes extrapolate to zero as Ɵ: approaches the same very low temperature

(-273.15 oC).

A volume cannot be negative – this common temperature must represent the absolute zero of temperature

a temperature below which it is impossible to cool an object.

The Kelvin scale ascribes the value T = 0 to this absolute zero of temperature.

Charles’s law takes the simpler form: At constant pressure, V αT.

V / T= constant (at constant p and n)

An alternative version of Charles’s law, in which the pressure of a sample of gas is monitored under

conditions of constant volume, is

p / T= constant (at constant V and n)

Example:
A balloon is inflated to a volume of 2.5 L in a warm living room (24°C). Then it is taken outside on a very cold
winter’s day (– 25 °C). Assume that the quantity of air in the balloon and its pressure both remain constant
. What will be the volume of the balloon when it is taken outdoors?

Solution
The volume of a fixed amount of gas at constant pressure is directly proportional to the absolute temperature.
V αT
V = kT
V/T = k
Where k is a constant.