This post was imported from my personal blog, as I make the transition to having a professional blog.
i just had a fun interview with a teaching talk on the properties of gases, and in the process of preparing i found this wicked awesome applet created by john gelder and michael abraham and hosted at oklahoma state u. the applet shows you a clear, animated representation of molecular motion according to kinetic molecular theory. the representation changes as you change variables like pressure, volume, and temperature. it’s really fun to play with. notice some cool things:
- if you decrease the volume, you can visually verify that the molecules are hitting the surface more often. when molecules bounce off of the surface, they exert a force on the surface. we humans in the macromolecular world define this as “pressure.” the pressure increases when you decrease the volume because the gas molecules hit the surface more often.
- you can use helium gas, neon gas, or a mixture of the two. the neon atoms are heavier, but they still have the same average kinetic energy (ie temperature), so they travel more slowly.
- they’ve included a really helpful document giving examples of inquiry-based activities using the applet.
