Kinetic Molecular Theory

• All matter is made of atoms or

molecules that are in constant
motion
–These particles contain energy
–The movement of these
particles is random
• VIDEO CLIP
Gases
 Properties of Gases
1. Gases have mass
2. Gases take shape & volume of their container
3. Gases are compressible (because they are
separated by great distances)
4. Gases move through each other easily
 “Diffusion”
 perfume, skunks!
5. Gases exert pressure
 Pressure
• Gas molecules hit walls
of container, exerting
a force
• Pressure depends on
– Number of impacts
(collisions) per unit
time
– Force of each
impact
Barometer
animation
 What is air pressure?
• pressure exerted on us by weight
of gases above our heads (& all
around our body)

• at sea level:
air pressure = 1 atmosphere (atm)
= 760 torr
= 760 mmHg
= 101.3 kPa
When we talk about gases, we use
a model to show how it would
“ideally” behave.
• The model = Kinetic Molecular Theory Of
Gases
– Under the KMT, we make 4 assumptions
about the behavior of Gases
 Kinetic Molecular Theory of Gases
1. Particles move in rapid, random, straight line
motion
2. ELASTIC Collisions = When they hit one
another and the walls of their container, they do
not lose potential energy – they do not slow
down
3. They are separate by great distances (the gas
is mostly empty space) therefore the volume of
the gas molecule is negligible
4. Gas molecules do not attract or repel one
another
 Real vs. ideal gas
• Ideal gas obeys all assumptions of KMT all
the time
• It’s a model
• It doesn’t exist
LINK

• Real gases
• Molecules really do have volume
• And molecules will interact, especially at
high pressure & low temperature
NOTE: when molecules are close together they
will interact and could possibly condense
High pressure – Look what
happens to this gas
Low temperature– Look what
happens to this gas
 When we
measure the
temperature of
a gas, we are
measuring the
average kinetic
energy of the
particles