Particle-model derivation of

Russell Akridge

Citation: The Physics Teacher 37, 110 (1999); doi: 10.1119/1.880164

View online: https://doi.org/10.1119/1.880164
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Published by the American Association of Physics Teachers

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 N o t e
Particle-Model Derivation of pV
Russell Akridge, Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, Kennesaw State University, 1000 Chastain Road,
Kennesaw, GA 30144; rakridge@ksumail.kennesaw.edu
T he relationship between the
macroscopic and the micro-
scopic views of the physical
world is a fascinating and important
concept. Physics students meet this
concept in the study of the ideal gas.
Temperature is the macroscopic
quantity corresponding to microscop-
ic random molecular energy
per degree of freedom.
Pressure is the macroscopic
quantity corresponding to
collisions on a surface
microscopically. The beau-
ty of this concept is
enhanced by the simplicity
of the standard derivation
of the macroscopic ideal
gas equation, beginning Fig. 1. A piston of mass M moving left with velocity v collides with a gas par- between collisions given
with simple particle interac- ticle of mass m and horizontal component of velocity vx.
tions. This article extends
these satisfying concepts to
derive the macroscopic equation for
an adiabatic expansion or compres-
sion of an ideal gas, beginning with
those same particle interactions.1
When a piston moves inward,
compressing a gas, the piston increas-
es the perpendicular component of
the velocity of the gas particles that
collide with it, because of conserva-
tion of momentum during each colli-
sion of gas particle and piston. By
this mechanism the piston adds ener-
gy to the gas with each collision.
Such a compression is adiabatic if all
of the energy gained remains in the
gas. This article considers only a
reversible adiabatic compression, so
that the motion of the piston is very
slow compared with the typical speed
of a gas particle, and the energy
gained by any one gas particle is
quickly redistributed among all of the
other gas particles. The energy deliv-
110 THE PHYSICS TEACHER Vol. 37, Feb. 1999


ered to the gas during the compres-
sion comes from the moving piston.
For simplicity, I consider a piston
moving with macroscopically con-
stant average velocity during its com-
ity along the axis of the cylinder.
Since there are N particles altogether,
the actual time for a collision
between some gas particle and the
piston is
pression. However, microscopically, 2L 2L
t =   =   (1)
during each gas-particle–piston colli- Nvx nNAvx
sion, the piston slows a tiny bit
where n is the number of
moles of gas and NA is
Avagadro’s number of gas
particles per mole.
The piston is moving
slowly in the negative x
direction with average
velocity vavg so that the
piston moves a distance
vavgt during the time
by Eq. (1). I assume that
the speed vavg of the pis-
ton as it compresses the gas
because of conservation of momen- is very much smaller than the average
tum. In the time interval before the speed of the gas particles. During
next collision, the external force must time t, one gas particle whose x-
accelerate the moving piston so that it component of velocity is vx will
has the same speed it had at the strike the piston, and bounce off it
beginning of the last collision and so with x-component of velocity –vx
maintain constant average speed. –2vavg, from conservation of
The work done by the external force momentum during the collision of
accelerating the piston between parti- gas particle and piston.2 The gas par-
cle collisions is the energy added to ticle’s collision with the massive pis-
the gas during the compression. ton moving toward it increases the
rebounding particle’s kinetic energy
Microscopic-Macroscopic by
Derivation vav g
冢 冣
KE = 2mv avgvx 1 +  
There are N gas particles con- vx
tained within a cylindrical volume
originally of length L and movable vavg冫 →0 2mv avg v x
vx (2)
piston area A, as illustrated in Fig. 1.
Since the x-direction is along the As this gas particle distributes its
length of the cylinder, the time energy equally among all of the parti-
between collisions of any one particle cles including itself, the average
with the piston is 2L/vx, where vx is energy gain per particle is
the component of the particle’s veloc- 2mvavgvx/N. This slight increase in


Particle-Model Derivation of pV

average particle energy, microscopi-
cally, is reflected as a slight increase
in the gas temperature T, macro-
scopically. Using the standard con-
nection between microscopic energy
per degree of freedom and macro-
scopic temperature, kT/2=average
energy per active particle degree of
freedom, where k is the Boltzmann
constant and T is the temperature in
kelvins, the gas temperature increases
slightly by an amount given by
3 2mvavgvx
kT =   (3)
2 N
In this equation vavg= 冷L 冷/t=
–L/t, since L is a negative quan-
tity.3 Substituting from Eq. (1) for t
gives
3 L
 kT = –mv2x   (4)
2 L
Since the piston’s motion vavg is
very slow compared with the speed of
the gas particles, the gas particles are
nearly at equilibrium. Each squared
component of velocity should have
the same average value as either of
the other two;4 hence, (vx)2=v2/3.
Equation (4) becomes5
T 2 L
  = –    (5)
T 3 L
Multiplying numerator and denomi-
nator of the right-hand side of Eq. (5)
by A, the cross-sectional area of the
movable piston, and recognizing that
the gas volume and the change of gas
volume are V=AL and V=AL,
gives
T 2 V
  = –    (6)
T 3 V
Integrating this equation from an ini-
tial temperature and volume to a final
temperature and volume gives
2/3
TV = constant (7)
which is the macroscopic equation
for the adiabatic compression of an
ideal gas as usually derived from a
joint application of the ideal gas
equation of state, pV=nRT, where
R=NAk is the ideal gas constant, and
the first law of thermodynamics,
dU=Q–pdV. A more familiar form of
Eq. (7) results from substituting


Particle-Model Derivation of pV
T=pV/nR: c
5 /3 p

pV = pV /cv = pV = constant
(8)
where cp=5R/2 and cv=3R/2 are the
well-known specific heats at constant
pressure and at constant volume,
respectively,6 and
= cp/cv.
Work Done by the External
Force
The external force does work
accelerating the plunger from its
reduced speed immediately after each
atomic collision to maintain an aver-
age plunger speed, vavg. Actually,
vavg is, for all practical purposes, the
instantaneous speed of the plunger,
since the time required for many
atomic collisions is very tiny on a
macroscopic time scale.7
From conservation of momentum,
the decrease in the plunger’s speed
during each atomic collision is
V=2vxm/M. The external force must
accelerate the plunger by this incre-
ment of speed during the time
between this collision and the next
collision. This is the time given by
Eq. (1). The work done by the exter-
nal force accelerating the plunger by
this velocity increment during this
time is
V
冢 冣
Wext = Fd = M  (vavg t)
t
= 2mv avgvx
This external work is the same as
the increase of the energy of the gas
due to atomic collision with the pis-
ton during this time; see Eq. (2).
Therefore, all of the work done by the
external force compressing the gas
goes into additional energy of the gas
particles, meaning that the compres-
sion is adiabatic.
References
1. Standard contemporary physics
texts at the level of the first col-
lege physics course usually
present a good description and
often a good derivation of the
macroscopic ideal gas law
derived from microscopic ideas
of particles colliding with a
wall. None of the several texts I
examined follow up that deri-
vation with the derivation of an
adiabatic compression or
expansion using similar princi-
ples as presented in this paper,
although they all either derive
the adiabatic expansion equa-
tion from macroscopic thermo-
dynamics or simply state it
without proof.
2. This statement assumes that the
piston does not change speed
as a result of the collision.
However, because the piston is
much more massive than the
gas particle, the piston will
slow a tiny amount during the
collision, an important point
that will be examined later.
3. The piston in Fig. 1 is moving
toward the left to compress the
volume occupied by the gas.
Therefore L is negative.
4. This argument is standard in the
usual derivation of the ideal gas
law.
5. I have used the Boltzmann con-
3 1
nection  kT =  mv2 in going
2 2
from Eq. (4) to Eq. (5).
6. Note that neither the equation
of state, pV = nRT, nor the first
law of thermodynamics was
used in deriving Eq. (7)
expressing the adiabatic com-
pression of an ideal gas, even
though pV = nRT was used to
express it in a more familiar
(9) form.
7. For example, in a cylinder of
oxygen molecules at STP with
radius 10 cm and with a plunger
that is 1.0 m from the fully
compressed position, there are
8.4x1023 molecules, and the
time between atomic collisions
with the plunger calculated
from Eq. (1) is 8.9x10–27 s. In
1 s the plunger suffers
1.1x1020 collisions and hence
the same number of successive
impact slowings followed by
the external force’s acceleration
to maintain the average speed,
vavg.
Vol. 37, Feb. 1999 THE PHYSICS TEACHER 111