Two sealed, rigid containers labeled A and B each hold 1.00 mol of neon gas. Container A is at 300 K, while container B is at 600 K. The containers are brought into thermal contact inside an insulated case so that no energy is exchanged with the surroundings.
(a) Describe the direction of energy transfer between the two containers immediately after they are placed in thermal contact. Express your answer in terms of the relative average kinetic energies of the neon atoms in each container.
(b) Explain, at the particulate (molecular-collision) level, how the two containers reach thermal equilibrium despite being separated by rigid walls that prevent mixing of the gases.
(c) Before contact is made, compare qualitatively the speed distributions of the neon atoms in the two containers. After thermal equilibrium is reached, describe how the two distributions change and why.