Topic 3 Thermal Physics

Modelling a gas
• All things are made of atoms—little particles that move
around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when
they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being
squeezed into one another. In that one sentence ... there is
an enormous amount of information about the world.
His suggestion that the most valuable information on
scientific knowledge in a single sentence using the fewest
words is to state the atomic hypothesis. 

— Richard P. Feynman

Six Easy Pieces (1995), 4. 

 Kinetic model of an ideal gas
• An ideal gas consists of a large
number of particles in constant
motion

– Particles are of negligible volume

– There are no intermolecular forces

between the molecules

– Collisions between molecules and

the walls of a container are elastic

– Duration of the collision is negligible

 Pressure
• When a molecule bounces off
the walls of a container its
momentum changes
• There must have been a force
on the molecule from the wall
and an equal and opposite force
on the wall from the molecule
• The average of all the
microscopic forces on the wall
over a period of time means
that there is effectively a
constant force on the wall F -2
• This force per unit area of the P (Nm or Pa)
wall is what is called Pressure A
 Pressure Law
• The pressure of a
fixed mass of gas at
constant volume is P T
directly proportional
to its temperature
 Charles law
• The volume of a fixed
mass of gas at constant
pressure is directly
proportional to its
absolute (Kelvin)
temperature

V T
 Boyle’s Law
• The pressure of a fixed
mass of gas is inversely
proportional to its
1
P
volume at constant
temperature

V
The mole (mol)

• This is the amount of

substance that contains
as many elementary
particles as there are in
0.012 kg of carbon-12
 Molar Mass
• The amount of substance, in moles,
is the mass of the substance divided
by the molar mass: m
n
• Where M
• n is the number of moles
• m is the mass in kilograms
• M is the molar mass in kg mol-1
 Relative atomic mass & relative molecular
mass
• Relative atomic mass deals
with atoms

• Relative molecular mass

deals with molecules:
combinations of atoms

• Relative molecular mass is

defined as the mass of a
molecule when compared
with 1/12 the mass of a
carbon-12 atom
 Avogadro’s Discovery
• One mole of a gas
occupies 0.0224 m3 at 273
K and 101.3 kPa pressure n V
(STP) and contains 6.02 ×
1023 particles (Avogadro’s
number NA)

• Number of moles of a gas N

is given by: n
NA
 Equation of state for an ideal gas

• P = pressure (Pa)
• V = volume (m3)
•
•
n = no. of mol
R = gas constant
𝑷𝑽 =𝒏𝑹𝑻
(=8.31JK-1mol-1)
• T = temperature (K)
 Temperature and average random kinetic
energy
• Temperature is a
measure of the
average random
kinetic energy of an
ideal gas

• Gas particles have a

wide range of speeds
 Average kinetic energy of an ideal gas
• Derivation p. 107-109

Where:
– = mean translational kinetic energy
– = Boltzmann constant = 1.38 x 10-23 J K-1
– T = Temperature (K)
– R = Gas constant
– NA = Avogadro number
 Real and ideal gases

• Ideal gases cannot be liquefied

• Real gases can be approximated by the ideal
gas model at high temperature and / or low
pressure
Data Book Formulae