Anesthesia Pharmacology Chapter 4:  Physics and Anesthesiology: Kinetic Theory of Gases I

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"Atoms of a gas in a box with a frictionless piston" Figure 39-1 from reference (1) below.  Page 39-3

dW = F(-dx) = -PAdx = -PdV; (Adx is the volume)

(note that area times the distance moved dx is the volume, explaining why -PAdx = -PdV; also the minus sign indicates that as we move dx we decrease the volume--also work is done on the gas in the process of compression)

 

u = mvx - ( - mvx ) = 2mvx
2    u is the momentum imparted to a container wall during an elastic collision. m is the mass of a molecule. vx is the velocity in the x-direction. 

 

 

 

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