Kinetic Theory of Gas

Ioana Pinzaru – 01260393

19th March 2018

Abstract
This report simulates the kinetic gas theory using object-oriented programming in Python language.
Classes for particles and the container, along with the equations governing the mechanical approach
to gasses represented the key factors in the code. The animation provides a visual representation of
what is happening within a gas, along with data which was analysed in Origin to provide values for
the macroscopic variables such as pressure, volume and temperature. The relation between this
state variables is studied with the conclusion that the van der Waals equation governing the
behaviour of a non-ideal gas was consistent with the simulated gas. Also, the Maxwell-Boltzmann
distribution was verified.

Introduction

The kinetic gas theory embodies the behaviour of an ideal gas which then can be furthered
in the study of real gases. The significance of the theory is vast and its applications are very broad.
The connection between the three state variables of a gas: pressure, temperature and volume
underlines one of the basic principles in most of thermodynamic applications: heat engines,
refrigerators, gas compressors, fans, which represent within themselves basic tools in different type
of machineries. Therefore, we can argue that the understanding of this theory is pivotal in the study
of physics and represents a strong motivation for this report.

This report is based on a computer simulation of a gas formed of particles undergoing basic
mechanical laws. It underlines the basic principles which form the kinetic gas theory and introduces
the concepts of the state variables. The relation between them is then investigated on the computer
model and compared to the behaviour of a non-ideal (van der Waals) gas, as well as the distribution
of speeds of the particles within the gas.

Theory

The following section is based on []. The Kinetic approach to the gas theory involves the
mechanical study of the molecules within the gas which are considered to form an ideal system of
balls colliding elastically within themselves and with the container they are held in. The interaction
within the molecules is neglected, therefore the internal energy of the gas is represented by the
kinetic energy of the molecules. In such a system, the pressure is defined as the force exerted by the
collisions of the molecules on the unit area of the walls of the container. The force is related to
momentum, consequently pressure can be represented as the change in momentum of the
container over time.
 Temperature has a definition in thermodynamics, nonetheless, in the following part a kinetic
approach to this concept is provided. It is known that if two objects are in contact with each other,
after some time they will reach the same temperature. That represents the basis for the definition of
temperature- the final condition that a system of objects interacting with each other reach after a
while. Let’s consider a parallelepipedal container with a frictionless piston between the walls
delimitating two vessels comprising two different gases. The pressure on the piston is given by the
molecules colliding elastically with it. A mechanical equilibrium takes place when the force exerted
by the molecules on one side of the piston is equal with the force exerted by the molecules on the
other side. In terms of energy, the molecules have the same kinetic energy over a unit of volume. For
example, on the left there might be a gas more dense which moves slower and on the right there
might be less molecules with higher speeds overcompensating and making the piston receive an
equal impulse from both sides. Although this state provides a mechanical equilibrium, if left enough
time, the system will change reaching a new state where the temperature equilibrium is also met.
The piston does not receive a constant pressure, but rather bursts of impulse: a molecule from the
right hits it giving it a small impulse to the left, pushing other molecules and then reversing after
having been hit by a molecule on the left. The piston is continuously jiggling exchanging energy from
one gas to the other. At some point, the piston will move with such a mean speed that the rate at
which it picks up energy from a gas will be equal to the rate at which it transfers energy into it. In this
case, it can be proven mathematically that the gases will have the same mean kinetic energy. This
state of equilibrium is postulated to be called thermal, where the gases have the same temperature.
Therefore the concepts of temperature and molecular mean kinetic energy become connected and
the nature of the connection remains to be defined by us. A linear relation was conveniently chosen:
2 K
T=
nr   o f   d e g r e e s   o f   f r e e d o m N k B

Where T is the temperature [K], K is the kinetic energy of the molecules within the gas(J), N is
the number of particles and kB is the Boltzmann constant.

As a result of an analysis of the energies within a gas, there is the ideal gas law:
pV =ν R T

Where p is the pressure[N/m 2], V the volume [m3], ν the number of moles, T the
temperature [K] and R a constant[J/mol x K].

The ideal gasses following this law contain molecules involved in perfect elastic collisions,
very small compared to the container in which they are held and the particles do not interact
electrically within each other. When the latter conditions are not met, the van der Waals equation of
state is a more accurate form of the gas law:

( p− Va ) ( V −b )= ν R T
2

Where a and b are constants characteristic for each gas. b is the volume of the particles per
mole of gas and a accounts for the intermolecular attraction.

In a gas where there are no intermolecular forces, it has been observed that the speeds of
the molecules follow a certain pattern. The Maxwell-Boltzmann probability distribution describes
how probable a particle of mass m is to have a speed v:
 3
m
( ) 2

2π k T e−m v
f ( v )=   4 π v2
2 2k T

Method

This report provides a simulation of a gas in two dimensions, where the intermolecular
forces were neglected, but the volume of the particles was taken into consideration, as the balls
representing them had a radius comparable to that of the container in which the gas was held. Using
an object-oriented programming approach in Python, a gas consisting of balls elastically colliding
with each other held in a container represented by a larger sphere. A class of balls was created
withholding characteristics such as mass, radius, position, speed and the type of the ball: a particle
or the container. The class involves functions of initialisation, change of position, calculation of time
it takes to collide with another ball, the redefinition of the speeds of the balls after involved in a
collision. Because the container was a circle as well, the physics laws governing its interaction with
the particles within could be characterised by the methods of the Ball class. Another class, Gas, was
used to set up the system of balls and container. The first step was to calculate the time until the first
collision in order to move forward the system in time until that happens and then modify the speeds
of the two involved balls. In order for the time until the collision between two balls takes place to be
calculated, the following study was approached:

Let’s consider two balls in two dimensions. As seen in figure 1, two cases have been taken into
consideration: the first case characterises an external interaction, while in the second one the ball is
contained within a larger one.

R1

R2

In case of collision the distance between the centres of the balls will be equal to R 1+R2 in case
of an interaction between two balls and R1-R2 in the case of an interaction between a ball and a
container. The following equation can be deducted:
2 2
( r 1 +v 1 δ t −r 2 + v 2 δ t ) =( R1± R2 )

By solving this equation and selecting the solutions, the time until a collision between two
balls can be calculated and used in the code to program the system of particles. The velocities after a
collision were calculated considering the conservation of energy and momentum as shown in the lab
book, pages. This algorithm of calculating the time until the next collision, moving the system in time
and changing the velocities of the balls involved in a collision was transformed into an animation. The
data collection was made by simply printing the required values and then prelucrated in Origin. The
pressure was calculated as stated in the theory section by considering the change in momentum of
the container over time. The temperature was calculated using the equation in two dimensions:
K
T=
N kB

Results