English

Three Vessels of Equal Capacity Have Gases at the Same Temperature and Pressure. Is the root mean square speed of molecules the same in the three cases? If not, in which case is vrms the largest? - Physics

Advertisements
Advertisements

Question

Three vessels of equal capacity have gases at the same temperature and pressure. The first vessel contains neon (monatomic), the second contains chlorine (diatomic), and the third contains uranium hexafluoride (polyatomic).

Is the root mean square speed of molecules the same in the three cases? If not, in which case is vrms the largest?

Numerical

Solution

No. The root mean square speed of neon is the largest.

Since the three vessels have the same capacity, they have the same volume.

Hence, each gas has the same pressure, volume, and temperature.

According to Avogadro’s law, the three vessels will contain an equal number of the respective molecules. This number is equal to Avogadro’s number, N = 6.023 × 1023.

The root mean square speed (vrms) of a gas of mass m, and temperature T, is given by the relation:

`v_"rms" = sqrt((3"kT")/"m")`

Where, k is Boltzmann constant

For the given gases, k and T are constants.

Hence vrms depends only on the mass of the atoms, i.e.,

`V_"rms" prop sqrt(1/"m")`

Therefore, the root mean square speed of the molecules in the three cases is not the same. Among neon, chlorine, and uranium hexafluoride, the mass of neon is the smallest. Hence, neon has the largest root mean square speed among the given gases

shaalaa.com
Gases and Its Characteristics
  Is there an error in this question or solution?
Chapter 13: Kinetic Theory - Exercises [Page 334]

APPEARS IN

NCERT Physics [English] Class 11
Chapter 13 Kinetic Theory
Exercises | Q 8.2 | Page 334
Share
Notifications

Englishहिंदीमराठी


      Forgot password?
Use app×