A rigid, sealed container of volume 2.0 L holds an ideal monatomic gas composed…
CHEMISTRY · Multi-part · AP · Chemistry · Properties of Substances and Mixtures · Properties of Substances and Mixtures
Problem
A rigid, sealed container of volume 2.0 L holds an ideal monatomic gas composed entirely of argon atoms at a temperature of 300 K. The atomic mass of argon is 40 u.
(The following physical constants may be useful: 1 u = 1.66 × 10⁻²⁷ kg, Boltzmann constant k_B = 1.38 × 10⁻²³ J K⁻¹.)
(a) Calculate the root-mean-square speed of an argon atom in the container.
(b) Determine the average translational kinetic energy of a single argon atom at this temperature.
(c) Describe what the numerical value obtained in part (b) implies about the microscopic motion of the gas particles and how it relates to the macroscopic temperature of the gas.