Chemical Forums
Chemistry Forums for Students => Undergraduate General Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: Botsa on February 22, 2022, 04:54:47 PM
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I recently got my self into an argument with my chemistry professor about average kinetic energy of ideal gases. I have not been able to find anything to support their claims anywhere on the internet so I thought you all might be able to help us get to the bottom of it.
Professor's argument:
When talking about the difference between average kinetic energy there is a distinction between the average of a particle, mole, and sample. And "at a particular temperature, the average kinetic energy of a particular gas will increase with the number of gas atoms, but the energy of an individual gas atom will stay the same. In other words, 1 mole of gas A at a particular temperature has less energy than 2 mole of gas A at the same temperature".
This makes no sense to me. The average should be the same no matter how much you have, that is how averages work. If he was talking about total kinetic energy I would 100% agree but he is not. Am I wrong?
If you need more details let me know.
Thanks,