Hi
i’m trying to understand how we can find the root mean square velocity for a gas from the kinetic energy equations but i don’t understand i find m instead of M
What am i not understanding?
Thanks!
Hello,
what you are doing is correct, and the answer you are reaching which is with m not M is correct. You see, in physics, the KE equation states “half times mass of the object times v squared”. In chemistry, since you are doing it for a gas, the write it M to refer to the Molar mass of the object. Basically, the answer is correct because they both refer to the mass just that M is more specific to a “molar mass of the gas” than the physics m.
I checked it online and sometimes they write it m sometimes they write it M so they are both equivalent.
However, i just want to ask where exactly is this required in physics or chem like which specific chapter is it under? thank you