2012/01/10

States of Matter - Gases

As we begin looking at states of matter, we start with gases.  Gases are convenient to study because many real gases behave in a very theoretically "correct" manner, meaning that their behaviour can be understood and explained using the Kinetic Molecular Theory of Gases: 1)gas particles are very much smaller than the space between the particles; 2) gas particles move randomly; 3) except during collisions, attractive and repulsive forces between particles are negligible when compared to the kinetic energy of the gas particles; 4) collisions are elastic; 5) the average Ekin of the particles in a sample of gas is proportional to the absolute temperature of that sample.  KMToG can be used to explain a number of gas laws including Avogadro's (V  n), Boyle's (V  1/P), Charles' (V  T), and the Ideal Gas Law (PV=nRT).

Next time, we'll wrap up gases and move on to liquids and solid as well as the phase changes between them.

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