OpenStax University Physics Volume II

Unit 1: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2: The Kinetic Theory of Gases
University Physics Volume II
Unit 1: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2: The Kinetic Theory of Gases
Conceptual Questions
1. Two H2 molecules can react with one O2 molecule to produce two H2O molecules. How many
moles of hydrogen molecules are needed to react with one mole of oxygen molecules?
Solution
2 moles, as that will contain twice as many molecules as the 1 mole of oxygen
3. A constant-volume gas thermometer contains a fixed amount of gas. What property of the gas
is measured to indicate its temperature?
Solution
pressure
5. In the last chapter, free convection was explained as the result of buoyant forces on hot fluids.
Explain the upward motion of air in flames based on the ideal gas law.
Solution
The flame contains hot gas (heated by combustion). The pressure is still atmospheric pressure, in
mechanical equilibrium with the air around it (or roughly so). The density of the hot gas is
proportional to its number density N/V (neglecting the difference in composition between the gas
in the flame and the surrounding air). At higher temperature than the surrounding air, the ideal
gas law says that is less than that of the surrounding air. Therefore the hot air has
lower density than the surrounding air and is lifted by the buoyant force.
7. If one kind of molecule has double the radius of another and eight times the mass, how do
their mean free paths under the same conditions compare? How do their mean free times
compare?
Solution
The mean free path is inversely proportional to the square of the radius, so it decreases by a
factor of 4. The mean free time is proportional to the mean free path and inversely proportional
to the rms speed, which in turn is inversely proportional to the square root of the mass. That
gives a factor of in the numerator, so the mean free time decreases by a factor of
9. Why do the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, which are much more
massive and farther from the Sun than Earth is, contain large amounts of hydrogen and helium?
Solution
Since they’re more massive, their gravity is stronger, so the escape velocity from them is higher.
Since they’re farther from the Sun, they’re colder, so the speeds of atmospheric molecules
including hydrogen and helium are lower. The combination of those facts means that relatively
few hydrogen and helium molecules have escaped from the outer planets.
11. Which is more dangerous, a closet where tanks of nitrogen are stored, or one where tanks of
carbon dioxide are stored?
Solution
One where nitrogen is stored, as excess CO2 will cause a feeling of suffocating, but excess
nitrogen and insufficient oxygen will not.
13. One might think that the internal energy of diatomic gases is given by Do
diatomic gases near room temperature have more or less internal energy than that? Hint: Their
internal energy includes the total energy added in raising the temperature from the boiling point
(very low) to room temperature.

Page 1 of 9
OpenStax University Physics Volume II
Unit 1: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2: The Kinetic Theory of Gases
Solution
Less, because at lower temperatures their heat capacity was only 3RT/2.
15. One cylinder contains helium gas and another contains krypton gas at the same temperature.
Mark each of these statements true, false, or impossible to determine from the given information.
(a) The rms speeds of atoms in the two gases are the same. (b) The average kinetic energies of
atoms in the two gases are the same. (c) The internal energies of 1 mole of gas in each cylinder
are the same. (d) The pressures in the two cylinders are the same.
Solution
a. false; b. true; c. true; d. true
17. An ideal gas is at a temperature of 300 K. To double the average speed of its molecules, what
does the temperature need to be changed to?
Solution
1200 K

Problems
19. Suppose a gas-filled incandescent light bulb is manufactured so that the gas inside the bulb is
at atmospheric pressure when the bulb has a temperature of . (a) Find the gauge pressure
inside such a bulb when it is hot, assuming its average temperature is (an
approximation) and neglecting any change in volume due to thermal expansion or gas leaks. (b)
The actual final pressure for the light bulb will be less than calculated in part (a) because the
glass bulb will expand. Is this effect significant?
Solution

a. 0.137 atm; b. Because of the expansion of the glass,

. Multiplying by that factor does

not make any significant difference.
21. How many moles are there in (a) 0.0500 g of gas (b) 10.0 g of
gas (c) How many molecules are present in each case?
Solution
a. b. 0.227 mol; c. molecules for the nitrogen, molecules
for the carbon dioxide
23. Calculate the number of moles in the 2.00-L volume of air in the lungs of the average person.
Note that the air is at (body temperature) and that the total volume in the lungs is
several times the amount inhaled in a typical breath as given in the example Calculating the
Number of Molecules in a Cubic Meter of Gas.
Solution

25. A company advertises that it delivers helium at a gauge pressure of in a

cylinder of volume 43.8 L. How many balloons can be inflated to a volume of 4.00 L with that
amount of helium? Assume the pressure inside the balloons is and the temperature
in the cylinder and the balloons is .

Page 2 of 9
OpenStax University Physics Volume II
Unit 1: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2: The Kinetic Theory of Gases
Solution

–7 2
27. An expensive vacuum system can achieve a pressure as low as 1 .00×10 N/m at
How many molecules are there in a cubic centimeter at this pressure and temperature?
Solution

5 2
29. A bicycle tire contains 2.00 L of gas at an absolute pressure of 7 . 00×10 N/m and a
temperature of . What will its pressure be if you let out an amount of air that has a
3
volume of 100 cm at atmospheric pressure? Assume tire temperature and volume remain
constant.
Solution
6.86 atm
7 2
31. A high-pressure gas cylinder contains 50.0 L of toxic gas at a pressure of 1 . 40×10 N/m
and a temperature of . The cylinder is cooled to dry ice temperature to
reduce the leak rate and pressure so that it can be safely repaired. (a) What is the final pressure in
the tank, assuming a negligible amount of gas leaks while being cooled and that there is no phase
change? (b) What is the final pressure if one-tenth of the gas escapes? (c) To what temperature
must the tank be cooled to reduce the pressure to 1.00 atm (assuming the gas does not change
phase and that there is no leakage during cooling)? (d) Does cooling the tank as in part (c) appear
to be a practical solution?
Solution
a. b. c. 2.15 K; d. no
33. Calculate the depth to which Avogadro’s number of table tennis balls would cover Earth.
Each ball has a diameter of 3.75 cm. Assume the space between balls adds an extra to
their volume and assume they are not crushed by their own weight.
Solution
40.7 km
35. A person hits a tennis ball with a mass of 0.058 kg against a wall. The average component of
the ball’s velocity perpendicular to the wall is 11 m/s, and the ball hits the wall every 2.1 s on
average, rebounding with the opposite perpendicular velocity component. (a) What is the average
force exerted on the wall? (b) If the part of the wall the person hits has an area of what is
the average pressure on that area?
Solution
a. 0.61 N; b. 0.20 Pa
37. Five bicyclists are riding at the following speeds: 5.4 m/s, 5.7 m/s, 5.8 m/s, 6.0 m/s, and 6.5
m/s. (a) What is their average speed? (b) What is their rms speed?
Solution
a. 5.88 m/s; b. 5.89 m/s
v
39. Typical molecular speeds (v rms ) are large, even at low temperatures. What is rms for helium
atoms at 5.00 K, less than one degree above helium’s liquefaction temperature?
Solution
177 m/s
Page 3 of 9
OpenStax University Physics Volume II
Unit 1: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2: The Kinetic Theory of Gases
41. What is the ratio of the average translational kinetic energy of a nitrogen molecule at a
temperature of 300 K to the gravitational potential energy of a nitrogen-molecule−Earth system
at the ceiling of a 3-m-tall room with respect to the same system with the molecule at the floor?
Solution
4.54  103
43. The product of the pressure and volume of a sample of hydrogen gas at is 80.0 J. (a)
How many moles of hydrogen are present? (b) What is the average translational kinetic energy
of the hydrogen molecules? (c) What is the value of the product of pressure and volume at

Solution
a. 0.0352 mol; b. c. 139 J
45. If the rms speed of oxygen molecules inside a refrigerator of volume is 465 m/s,
what is the partial pressure of the oxygen? There are 5.71 moles of oxygen in the refrigerator,
and the molar mass of oxygen is 32.0 g/mol.
Solution
21.1 kPa
47. The escape velocity from the Moon is much smaller than that from the Earth, only 2.38 km/s.
At what temperature would hydrogen molecules (molar mass is equal to 2.016 g/mol) have a
v
root-mean-square velocity rms equal to the Moon’s escape velocity?
Solution
458 K
49. Suppose that the typical speed (v rms ) of carbon dioxide molecules (molar mass is 44.0
g/mol) in a flame is found to be 1350 m/s. What temperature does this indicate?
Solution

235 238
51. There are two important isotopes of uranium, U and U ; these isotopes are nearly
235
identical chemically but have different atomic masses. Only U is very useful in nuclear
reactors. Separating the isotopes is called uranium enrichment (and is often in the news as of this
writing, because of concerns that some countries are enriching uranium with the goal of making
nuclear weapons.) One of the techniques for enrichment, gas diffusion, is based on the different
molecular speeds of uranium hexafluoride gas,
UF 6 . (a) The molar masses of 235 U and
are 349.0 g/mol and 352.0 g/mol, respectively. What is the ratio of their typical speeds ? (b)
At what temperature would their typical speeds differ by 1.00 m/s? (c) Do your answers in this
problem imply that this technique may be difficult?
Solution
a. 1.004; b. 764 K; c. This temperature is equivalent to , which is high but not impossible
to achieve. Thus, this process is feasible. At this temperature, however, there may be other
considerations that make the process difficult. (In general, uranium enrichment by gaseous
diffusion is indeed difficult and requires many passes.)
53. Dry air consists of approximately by mole, with
trace amounts of other gases. A tank of compressed dry air has a volume of 1.76 cubic feet at a gauge

Page 4 of 9
OpenStax University Physics Volume II
Unit 1: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2: The Kinetic Theory of Gases
pressure of 2200 pounds per square inch and a temperature of 293 K. How much oxygen does it
contain in moles?
Solution
65 mol
55. (a) Given that air is oxygen, find the minimum atmospheric pressure that gives a relatively
safe partial pressure of oxygen of 0.16 atm. (b) What is the minimum pressure that gives a partial
pressure of oxygen above the quickly fatal level of 0.06 atm? (c) The air pressure at the summit of
Mount Everest (8848 m) is 0.334 atm. Why have a few people climbed it without oxygen, while some
who have tried, even though they had trained at high elevation, had to turn back?
Solution
a. 0.76 atm; b. 0.29 atm; c. The pressure there is barely above the quickly fatal level.
57. To give a helium atom nonzero angular momentum requires about 21.2 eV of energy (that is,
21.2 eV is the difference between the energies of the lowest-energy or ground state and the
lowest-energy state with angular momentum). The electron-volt or eV is defined as
Find the temperature T where this amount of energy equals Does this
explain why we can ignore the rotational energy of helium for most purposes? (The results for
other monatomic gases, and for diatomic gases rotating around the axis connecting the two
atoms, have comparable orders of magnitude.)
Solution
; Yes, that’s an impractically high temperature.
59. A sealed, rigid container of 0.560 mol of an unknown ideal gas at a temperature of is
cooled to . In the process, 980 J of heat are removed from the gas. Is the gas
monatomic, diatomic, or polyatomic?
Solution
polyatomic
61. A steel container of mass 135 g contains 24.0 g of ammonia, NH3, which has a molar mass of
17.0 g/mol. The container and gas are in equilibrium at . How much heat has to be
removed to reach a temperature of ? Ignore the change in volume of the steel and treat
the ammonia as an ideal gas with 6 degrees of freedom (3 translational and 3 rotational; at room
temperature, the vibrational degree of freedom is inactive.).
Solution

63. Heliox, a mixture of helium and oxygen, is sometimes given to hospital patients who have
trouble breathing, because the low mass of helium makes it easier to breathe than air. Suppose
helium at is mixed with oxygen at to make a mixture that is helium by mole.
What is the final temperature? Ignore any heat flow to or from the surroundings, and assume the
final volume is the sum of the initial volumes.
Solution

65. In car racing, one advantage of mixing liquid nitrous oxide (N2O) with air is that the boiling of the
“nitrous” absorbs latent heat of vaporization and thus cools the air and ultimately the fuel-air mixture,
allowing more fuel-air mixture to go into each cylinder. As a very rough look at this process, suppose
1.0 mol of nitrous oxide gas at its boiling point, , is mixed with 4.0 mol of air (assumed
diatomic) at . What is the final temperature of the mixture? Use the measured heat capacity of

Page 5 of 9
OpenStax University Physics Volume II
Unit 1: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2: The Kinetic Theory of Gases
N2O at , which is . (The primary advantage of nitrous oxide is that it consists of
1/3 oxygen, which is more than air contains, so it supplies more oxygen to burn the fuel. Another
advantage is that its decomposition into nitrogen and oxygen releases energy in the cylinder.)
Solution

67. Using the approximation for small , estimate the fraction of

nitrogen molecules at a temperature of that have speeds between 290 m/s and 291
m/s.
Solution
0.00157
69. By counting squares in the following figure, estimate the fraction of argon atoms at
that have speeds between 600 m/s and 800 m/s. The curve is correctly normalized.
The value of a square is its length as measured on the x-axis times its height as measured on the
y-axis, with the units given on those axes.

Solution
About 0.072. Answers may vary slightly. A more accurate answer is 0.074.
71. Find (a) the most probable speed, (b) the average speed, and (c) the rms speed for nitrogen
molecules at 295 K.
Solution
a. 419 m/s; b. 472 m/s; c. 513 m/s
73. At what temperature is the average speed of carbon dioxide molecules 510
m/s?
Solution
541 K
75. a) At what temperature do oxygen molecules have the same average speed as helium atoms
have at 300 K? b) What is the answer to the same question about most
probable speeds? c) What is the answer to the same question about rms speeds?
Solution
2400 K for all three parts

Additional Problems
77. (a) Find the density in SI units of air at a pressure of 1.00 atm and a temperature of ,
assuming that air is 78% N2, 21% O2, and 1% Ar, (b) Find the density of the atmosphere on

Page 6 of 9
OpenStax University Physics Volume II
Unit 1: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2: The Kinetic Theory of Gases
Venus, assuming that it’s 96% CO2 and 4% N2, with a temperature of 737 K and a pressure of
92.0 atm.
Solution
a. ; b.
79. When an air bubble rises from the bottom to the top of a freshwater lake, its volume increases
by . If the temperatures at the bottom and the top of the lake are 4.0 and 10 , respectively,
how deep is the lake?
Solution
7.9 m
81. One process for decaffeinating coffee uses carbon dioxide at a molar
density of about and a temperature of about . (a) Is CO2 a solid, liquid, gas,
or supercritical fluid under those conditions? (b) The van der Waals constants for carbon dioxide
are and Using the van der Waals equation,
estimate the pressure of at that temperature and density.
Solution
a. supercritical fluid; b.
83. On a warm day when the air temperature is , a metal can is slowly cooled by adding
bits of ice to liquid water in it. Condensation first appears when the can reaches . What is
the relative humidity of the air?
Solution

85. The mean free path for helium at a certain temperature and pressure is The radius
of a helium atom can be taken as . What is the measure of the density of helium under
those conditions (a) in molecules per cubic meter and (b) in moles per cubic meter?
Solution
a. b.
87. In the chapter on fluid mechanics, Bernoulli’s equation for the flow of incompressible fluids
was explained in terms of changes affecting a small volume dV of fluid. Such volumes are a
fundamental idea in the study of the flow of compressible fluids such as gases as well. For the
equations of hydrodynamics to apply, the mean free path must be much less than the linear size
of such a volume, For air in the stratosphere at a temperature of 220 K and a pressure
of 5.8 kPa, how big should a be for it to be 100 times the mean free path? Take the effective
radius of air molecules to be which is roughly correct for N2.
Solution
8.2 mm
89. (a) Estimate the specific heat capacity of sodium from the Law of Dulong and Petit. The
molar mass of sodium is 23.0 g/mol. (b) What is the percent error of your estimate from the
known value, ?
Solution
a. ; b.

Page 7 of 9
OpenStax University Physics Volume II
Unit 1: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2: The Kinetic Theory of Gases

91. Find the ratio for hydrogen gas at a temperature of 77.0 K.

Solution
or about 1.10
93. Unreasonable results. (a) Find the average speed of hydrogen sulfide, , molecules at a
temperature of 250 K. Its molar mass is 31.4 g/mol (b) The result isn’t very unreasonable, but
why is it less reliable than those for, say, neon or nitrogen?
Solution
a. 411 m/s; b. According to the following table, the CV of H2S is significantly different from the
theoretical value, so the ideal gas model does not describe it very well at room temperature and
pressure, and the Maxwell-Boltzmann speed distribution for ideal gases may not hold very well,
even less well at a lower temperature.
Gas CV/R at 25 °C and 1 atm
Ar 1.50
He 1.50
Ne 1.50
CO 2.50
2.47
2.50
2.53
2.8
3.48
3.13
3.66

Challenge Problems
95. Eight bumper cars, each with a mass of 322 kg, are running in a room 21.0 m long and 13.0
m wide. They have no drivers, so they just bounce around on their own. The rms speed of the
cars is 2.50 m/s. Repeating the arguments of Pressure, Temperature, and RMS Speed find the
average force per unit length (analogous to pressure) that the cars exert on the walls.
Solution
29.5 N/m

97. Verify the normalization equation In doing the integral, first make the

substitution This “scaling” transformation gives you all features of the answer
except for the integral, which is a dimensionless numerical factor. You’ll need the formula

to find the numerical factor and verify the normalization.

Solution

Page 8 of 9
OpenStax University Physics Volume II
Unit 1: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2: The Kinetic Theory of Gases

Substituting and gives

99. Verify that

Solution
Making the scaling transformation as in the previous problems, we find that

As in the previous problem, we integrate by parts:

Again, the first term is 0, and we were given in an earlier problem that the integral in the second

term equals We now have

Taking the square root of both sides gives the desired result:

This file is copyright 2016, Rice University. All Rights Reserved.

Page 9 of 9