Kinetic Theory

Objectives
● Describe how the kinetic-molecular theory is used to explain the behavior of various gases
at different temperatures. (Exploration 1)
● Describe the Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution. (Explorations 1 and 2)
● Examine data that shows how a gas’s molar mass affects that gas’s behavior. (Exploration 2)

Description of Activity
The kinetic-molecular theory describes the behavior of gases in terms of particles in motion. It also
makes assumptions about size, motion, and energy of gas particles. In this activity, you will study
how temperature and gas particle molar mass affect the frequency distribution of gas particle
speeds. You will examine and analyze speed frequency distribution graphs. This distribution is called
the Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution.

Jump Start
1. Describe kinetic energy and state its equation. Kinetic energy is like the movement or
behavior of gases and the equation is KE=1/2mv2
2. Calculate the kinetic energy of a mole of oxygen gas molecules that have a speed of 10.0
m/s. .8
3. According to the kinetic-molecular theory, what assumptions are made about a gas particle’s
size and motion? They are constantly moving and are small
4. What happens to the average speeds of the particles in a gas when one increases that gas’s
temperature? They increase

Safety Discussion
If you conduct this experiment in a laboratory setting, be aware that gases heated in a closed
container could result in the container exploding.

Exploration 1: The Effect of Temperature on Gas Behavior

Procedure

1. Choose any gas from the list box.

2. Set Temperature to any value. Observe the shape of the frequency distribution of speeds
graph. Record the most probable particle speed (vp) and the average particle speed (vavg) in
Table 1.
3. Repeat step 2 for four additional temperatures. Increase the value each time.
4. Choose another gas and repeat steps 2 and 3.
Observations and Analysis

Table 1

Gas Temperature (K) Most Probable Particle Speed Average Particle Speed (m/s)
(m/s)

Hydrogen gas 100k 908m/s 1025m/s

Hydrogen gas 199k 1281m/s 1446m/s

Hydrogen gas 307k 1591m/s 1796m/s

Hydrogen gas 406k 1830m/s 2065m/s

Hydrogen gas 505k 2041m/s 2303m/s

Oxygen 100k 228m/s 258m/s

Oxygen 199k 322m/s 363m/s

Oxygen 307k 400m/s 451m/s

Oxygen 406k 460m/s 519m/s

Oxygen 505k 513m/s 579m/s

 1. What happens to the particle speed as the temperature increases? The speed increases
2. How does the speed frequency distribution graph change for a given gas as the temperature
is increased? The graph gets lower
3. At a given temperature, why does the most probable particle speed (vp) differ from the
average particle speed (vavg)? The average is all of them added together then divided and
the probable speed is just the speed they think they are going
4. When a different gas is graphed, does the trend of the graph’s shape differ as temperature is
increased? No, they all go down

Exploration 2: The Effect of Mass on Gas at a Given

Temperature
Procedure

1. Set Temperature to 500 K. Maintain this temperature setting throughout this Exploration.
2. Select Hydrogen gas from the list box. Record the most probable particle speed and the
average particle speed in Table 2.
3. Calculate the molar mass of a gas particle from step 2 in g/mol. Refer to the periodic table for
the masses of individual atoms. Be aware that a hydrogen gas particle contains two
hydrogen atoms, and an oxygen gas particle contains two oxygen atoms. Record your result
in Table 2.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for Oxygen, Carbon dioxide, and Xenon.

Observations and Analysis

Table 2 (Temperature = 500 K)

Gas Most Probable Particle Average Particle Speed Molar Mass of a Single Atom or
Speed (m/s) (m/s) Molecule (g/mol)

Hydrogen gas 2031m/s 2291m/s 2 g/mol

Oxygen 511m/s 576m/s 32 g/mol

Carbon Dioxide 435m/s 490m/s 44 g/mol

 Xenon 252m/s 285m/s 131.3 g/mol

1. At a given temperature, what relationship appears to exist between the mass of a gas
particle and its speed? The more mass there is the slower it is.
2. How does the graph change as particle mass increases? The peak becomes less wide and
gets closer to the two axis.

Conclusions
What can you conclude about the speeds of gas particles in a container? How do they change with
temperature changes? How do gas particle speeds change with molar mass? How does the
probable speed for an individual gas particle compare to the average speed of all gas particles if
there is only one gas in a container?

They are going fast and are constantly moving. The speeds increase as temperature increases and
decrease when temperature decreases. Higher molar mass means a slower particle. The speed is
higher.

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