A single atom confined in a large vacuum chamber is observed to have an average…
PHYSICS · Multi-part · CBSE · Physics · Kinetic Theory · Kinetic Theory
Problem
A single atom confined in a large vacuum chamber is observed to have an average translational kinetic energy of 4.14×10−21J. Boltzmann’s constant is kB=1.38×10−23JK−1. For all parts, neglect any degrees of freedom other than translation.
(a) Calculate the temperature of the chamber.
(b) The atom is then identified as helium with atomic mass 4.00u, where 1u=1.66×10−27kg. Determine the root-mean-square speed of the helium atom at the temperature you found in part (a).
(c) If an equal number of nitrogen molecules (molar mass 28.0gmol−1) were placed in a separate but identical chamber at the same temperature, would the average translational kinetic energy per molecule of nitrogen be less than, equal to, or greater than that of the helium atom? Explain your reasoning.