Gas properties – pressure, temperature, volume and diffusion

PhysicsThermal Physics & GasesAges 17–18

Pump light helium or heavy argon particles into a box and watch them collide elastically with each other and with the walls. The Ideal gas screen lets you heat, cool, drag the wall to change the volume or hold volume, temperature or pressure constant, then read the pressure gauge and thermometer; the Energy screen plots the speed and kinetic energy distributions and compares the mean kinetic energy of the two gases; the Diffusion screen opens a divider between the two gases so you can watch them mix on their own. Adapted from the "Gas Properties", "Gases Intro" and "Diffusion" simulations by PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder (CC BY 4.0); rewritten.

Lesson: Kinetic theory and the ideal gas equation