In Lesson 1, we tried to hypothesize about how gas particles behave in a container. We did so by writing our hypotheses verbally, sketching, developing static computational representations, and finally defining the behavior of the gas particles within a block-based programming environment.
The Kinetic Molecular Theory (KMT) is the scientific theory that is used to explain and predict the behavior of different objects that use air pressure to function such as these:
The main assumptions of Kinetic Molecular Theory (KMT) are the following:
- A gas is composed of a large number of identical molecules moving in random directions, separated by distances that are large compared with their size.
- Collision between gas particles occur like collisions between billiard balls (i.e. the total energy is conserved; see elastic collision 🔗). Otherwise, they do not interact. There are no attractive or repulsive forces between the particles.
- Any energy the particles have is because of their motion only (i.e. kinetic energy).
- These assumptions are simplifications that describe a theoretical "ideal gas". Most real gases behave qualitatively like an ideal gas.
Before we move on to the implications of KMT, let's first reflect on how these assumptions compare to our gas particle models from the Lesson 1.
