Gases : Graham's Laws of Diffusion and Effusion

Only a few physical properties of gases depends on the identity

of the gas.

Diffusion - The rate at which two gases mix.

Effusion - The rate at which a gas escapes through a pinhole

into a vacuum.

Thomas Graham

Graham's Law of Diffusion

o The rate at which gases diffuse is inversely proportional to the square
root of their densities.

o Since volumes of different gases contain the same number of particles

(see Avogadro's Hypothesis), the number of moles per liter at a given T
and P is constant. Therefore, the density of a gas is directly proportional
to its molar mass (MM).

Graham's Law of Effusion

o The rate of effusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root
of either the density or the molar mass of the gas.

The time required for 25-mL samples

of different gasses to diffuse through a
pinhole into a vacuum.

The Kinetic Molecular Theory and Graham's Law

o Since KEavg is dependent only upon T, two different gases at the same
temperature must have the same KEavg.

Simplify the equation by multiplying both sides by two:

Rearrange to give the following:

Take the square root of both sides to obtain the following relationship between the
ratio of the velocities of the gases and the square root of the ratio of their molar
masses:

This equation states that the velocity (rate) at which gas molecules move is inversely
proportional to the square root of their molar masses.
Next: "Deviation from Ideal Gas Behavior: Van der Waals Equation"