Ages

Introduction

Summary

The kinetic molecular theory of Maxwell and Boltzmann proposes that the macroscopic properties of an ideal  gas  derive  from the fact that it is  composed of a large number of colliding point particles that  are  in rapid motion.  The particles do not interact with one another except in elastic collisions. The piston receives from each such collision a certain amount of momentum. The macroscopic effect of these collisions is pressure.

Goals

• To illustrate the microscopic behaviour of an ideal  gas.
• To introduce the idea of pressure in kinetic molecular terms.

Features

Click and drag the piston horizontally to modify the volume

Tags

ideal-gas volume piston screw jack kinetic theory collision atom pressure