to create a lab simulation for students from a teachers perspective

If the “volume and number of molecules are held constant for gas, then the pressure is directly proportional to the Kelvin Temperature”.

If the “number of molecules and the Kelvin temperature are held constant for gas, the pressure and volume are indirectly proportional”. Knowing this perform the following simulations using the link provided and answer the questions in your own words.

1. Click on the simulation of Gas Properties. Click on the blue heavy species box and add 50 particles located on the right. The temperature should be 300K. Start a stopwatch and Stop the simulation after 15 seconds. You need to keep an eye on the pressure gauges to see how it changes. What do you observe?

After observing the experiment for a few seconds, I can see that the pressure fluctuates from around 5.4 to 6.4 atm peaking when most particles hit the walls.

2. Now repeat the same process only this time, increase the temperature to 500K. what do you observe?

After increasing the temperature to 500K with the same number of particles, I saw that the pressure increased to 9.3-10.1

3. What do you deduce from the change in temperature and how does it affect the pressure within the system?

I saw that with the increase in temperature, the number of collisions also increased along with the movement of the particles in the box. With this, I deduce that the pressure of a given amount of gas is directly proportional to the temperature.

4. Now, repeating the same steps in Part A, perform the simulation again. This time, you will change the total area of the system and determine how it affects the pressure.

Change the area to 5nm. What do you observe?

After changing the area to 5nm, there is an increase in the pressure which now shows to be about 11.2-12.1 atm. The pressure increases significantly as the area is halved.

5. What did you learn about the relationship between pressure and area in a closed system?

Pressure is force exerted per unit area. So, as the area was halved, and the pressure increased by nearly the same amount, we can conclude that pressure is inversely proportional to area when other factors are constant.

6. Now try step 1 again but change the type of the molecules to the small red ones. Do you see any changes and what if any? If not, why do you think there are none?

After repeating step one with the smaller molecules, I saw no changes in the pressure of the system. The reason there were no changes is because pressure is directly proportional to the number of atoms or molecules and not size of the molecules.

7. Is it possible for a system to have 0 pressure? Change the temperature and find out at what temperature the pressure is zero with the learnings you have acquired until now.

Yes, it is possible to reach 0 pressure. This occurs at -271 Celsius in the system.

Conceptual questions:

What is the formula for pressure?

The pressure formula is P=F/A where F is force and A is area.

What is an ideal gas?

An ideal gas is a hypothetical gas whose molecules occupy negligible space and have no interactions, and which consequently obeys the gas laws exactly.

Why is the pressure of a system lower at lower temperatures and higher at higher temperatures?

As the temperature increases, the movement of the particles increases along with it, which intern increases the number of collisions in the system which is why the pressure increases and vice versa.

What is the pressure law?

The pressure law states that for a fixed mass of gas, at a constant volume, the pressure is directly proportional to the absolute temperature.