15 Ideal gases
15.1 The mole
• In thermodynamic, the amount of substance is measured in the SI unit mole.
• Mole is defined as the SI base unit of an ‘amount of substance’. It is the
amount containing as many particles (e.g., atoms or molecules) as there are
atoms in 12 g of carbon-12.
• The candidate should know from AS that the atomic mass unit (u) is equivalent
to 1.66x10-27 kg
• A carbon-12 atom has a mass of 12u (6 protons and 6 neutrons) or 12x1.66x10-
27
kg
• Hence
0.012
1 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 = = 6 ⋅ 02 × 1023 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠
1 ⋅ 99 × 10−26
• The Avogardo’s constant (NA) is defined as
The number of atoms of carbon-12 in 12 g of carbon-12; equal to 6.02 ×
1023 mol-1
15.2 Equation of state
• Any gas that follows the relationship pV ∝ 𝑇 is an ideal gas.
• Here p is pressure in Pa, V is the volume of the gas in m3 and T is temperature in
Kelvin.
• Recall that Boyle’s Law states that pressure (p) is inversely proportional to
volume (V) assuming temperature is constant
• The equation given is
P1V1 = P2V2
• Charles’ Law states that volume (V) is directly proportional to temperature (T)
• The equation used is
𝑉1 𝑉2
=
𝑇1 𝑇2
• Pressure Law states that pressure (p) is directly proportional to temperature
(T).
• The equation used is
𝑃1 𝑃2
=
𝑇1 𝑇2
• Mnemonics time! In order to remember which variable is proportional to which
just use
-Boyle’s Law: Boy’s like to Play Video games
-Charles’ Law: Charlie Brown is a TV show
-Pressure Law: …..
• Remember to use Kelvin and not Celsius in temperature!
• The equation of state for an ideal gas (or the ideal gas equation) can be
expressed as:
pV = nRT
The equation can also be rewritten as
pV = NkT
Here
-n is the number of moles
-N is the number of molecules
-R is the molar gas constant (8.3144598 m2 kg s-2 K-1 mol-1)
-k is Boltzmann’s constant which is given by k = R/NA (1.38064852 × 10-23 J K-1)
• An ideal gas is therefore defined as a gas which obeys the equation of state
pV = nRT at all pressures, volumes and temperatures.
15.3 Kinetic theory of gases
• The kinetic theory of gas assumes the following:
-Molecules of gas behave as identical, hard, perfectly elastic spheres
-The volume of the molecules is negligible compared to the volume of the
container
-The time of a collision is negligible compared to the time between collisions
-There are no forces of attraction or repulsion between the molecules
-The molecules are in continuous random motion
• The pressure of an ideal gas equation includes the mean square speed of the
particle:
<c2>
Here c = average speed of gas particles
• The unit for mean square speed is m2s-2
• In order to calculate the average speed of the particles in a gas, take the
square root of the mean square speed:
√⟨𝑐 2 ⟩ = 𝑐𝑟𝑚𝑠
• The unit for crms is ms-1
• The kinetic Theory of Gases equation is given by
1
𝑝𝑉 = 𝑁𝑚<c2>
3
Where
-p = pressure (Pa)
-V = volume (m3)
-N = number of molecules
-m = mass of one molecule of gas (kg)
-<c2> = mean square speed of the molecules (ms-1)
• On top of being able to apply the equation above, the candidate is expected to
know how to derive the kinetic Theory of Gases equation as well:
-Step 1: Find the change in momentum as a single molecule hits a wall
perpendicularly
𝛥𝑝 = −𝑚𝑐 − (+𝑚𝑐) = −2𝑚𝑐
-Step 2: Calculate the number of collisions per second by the molecule on a wall
Assume that a gas molecule has to travel from one end of a container
to the other end (l). When it bounces after collision back to initial
position, the total distance travelled would be 2l. Using
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 2𝑙
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 = =
𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑐
-Step 3: Find the change in momentum per second
Recall
Force = rate of change of momentum
𝛥𝑝 2𝑚𝑐 𝑚𝑐 2
= =
𝛥𝑡 2𝑙 l
𝑐
-Step 4: Calculate the total pressure from N molecules
Assume the area of the wall that the molecule collides with is l2 and
using
𝑚𝑐 2
𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑐 2
𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑝 = = l2 = 3
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑙 𝑙
The equation above assumes only one molecule collides with the wall of
a container. Hence the equation above is the pressure from one
molecule. The total pressure from N molecules can therefore be
calculated with
𝑁𝑚𝑐 2
𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑝 =
𝑙3
Since different molecules have different velocity, we will need to use
the mean squared speed <c2> instead of c2. The pressure is now
𝑁𝑚 < c2 >
𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑝 =
𝑙3
-Step 5: Consider the effect of the molecule moving in 3D space
The previous derivation only took into account the molecules traveling
in 1 dimension. Consider the other 2 dimensions, the actual c 2 can be
determined using Pythagoras’ theorem
c2 = cx2 + cy2 + cz2
Assuming that
<cx2> = <cy2> = <cz2>
Therefore <cx2> can be defined as
<cx2> = 1/3 <c2>
Since l3 is equal to the volume of the container (V), substituting back
into the pressure equation we get
𝑝𝑉 = 1/3𝑁𝑚 < c2 >
• Recall the ideal gas equation
pV = NkT
Hence
𝑁𝑘𝑇 = 1/3𝑁𝑚 < c2 >
N will cancel out
𝑘𝑇 = 1/3𝑚 < c2 >
3𝑘𝑇 = 𝑚 < c2 >
Multiplying both sides with ½ gets you
3/2𝑘𝑇 = 1/2𝑚 < c2 >
Since ½ mc2 is equal to the kinetic energy of the molecule of an ideal gas we get
EK = 3/2 kT
