Asked by niharika

at what temperature will the root mean square velocity of sulphur dioxide be same as that of methane at 27c?

Answers

Answered by bobpursley
SO2 vs Methane

Methane: symettrical molecule, one degree of freedom (translational)
SO2: linear molecule, two degrees of freedom (translational, vibration).

One of the fundamental postulates in statistical thermodynamics, is that energy <i>almost</i> divides equally in each degree of freedom.

So 1/2 of the energy in SO2 goes to translational energy, and

KE then = 1/2 energy available at a temp, or
energy available= 2*KE
(rmsVelocity)^2 proportional to KE, so
rmsVelocity proportional to sqrt 1/2*KE available
rmsVelocity proportional to sqrt (.5* total energy) or
rmsVelocity proportional to .707 sqrttotal energy

finally, total energy proportional to abs temp.
so rmsVelocity to be the same is .707*sqrt(temp)/sqrt(300)
or temp=2*300K or 600K or 600-273 C

check my thinking. I am a bit surprised at this question, so I assume you are studying statistical thermodynamics.

check my work carefully.

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