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

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Kinetic Energy and Temperature

2Oxygen Failure Protection Device (Figure 22-5) 

 

1Relationships between kinetic energy and temperature

"Atoms of two different monoatomic gases separated by a movable piston" From reference 1, Figure 39-2, page 39-8.

n1<m1v21/2> = n2<m2v22/2>

  • Before we consider the above analysis a little more carefully, let's consider the hypothetical case of an initial state of a gas in a volume in which all the gas molecules are initially moving in exactly the same velocity (i.e. equivalent momentum). 

  • The motion of the atoms will be random and as the atoms collide with one another, depending on the angle, translational kinetic energy will be exchanged resulting ultimately in a distribution of molecular speeds, even if all the initial speeds were the same.

 

 

   

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