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Location:
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HC 3023 & 3023A |
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Date:
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Tuesday, Aug.2 |
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Time:
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9:30 AM -9:40 AM
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Author:
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Amy Robertson, University of Washington
(206)251-1194, awrob@uw.edu
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Co-Author(s):
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Peter S. Shaffer , Lillian C McDermott
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Abstract:
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A basic assumption of kinetic-molecular theory is that the pressure of a gas is generated by collisions of gas particles with the walls of the container. This assumption is often used to derive an expression that relates the pressure of a gas to the kinetic energy of the gas particles and ultimately connects the microscopic model for pressure to the ideal gas law. In a series of questions that were developed to elicit microscopic descriptions of pressure, student and teacher explanations revealed a variety of macroscopic and microscopic descriptions of pressure that had no obvious connection to collisions of gas particles with the container walls. Examples will be presented, together with a brief discussion of possible implications for instruction in physics and chemistry courses.
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Footnotes:
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*This work has been supported under a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
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