PHYSICS REVISION

KINETIC THEORY
PRESSURE
When force acts over an area, pressure is exerted. Pressure equals force over area
therefore increasing the area (as with snow shoes) decreases the pressure while
decreasing the area (as with drawing pins) increases the pressure. Pressure is
measured in N/m also called pascals, Pa. The standard pressure of the atmosphere
is also a unit of pressure called an atm, atmosphere, or a bar and it is equal to
100kPa.

GAS PRESSURE
The pressure of a gas is due to the large number of particles in constant motion
meaning that there are a large number of elastic collisions per second with the walls
of the container. This causes a change direction and thus velocity leading to a
change in momentum as momentum = mass X velocity. A change in momentum
results in a force as force = change in momentum/ time and thus a pressure is
exerted because pressure = force/ area. Therefore reducing volume increases
pressure because there are more collisions per second per unit area and increasing
temperature increases pressure because there are more collisions per second and
the collisions have more momentum. Gas pressure is measured with a pressure
gauge.

GAS LAWS
The pressure multiplied by the volume of a fixed quantity of gas, divided by the
temperature (in Kelvin, k, which is C + 273) is a constant. If one variable remains
constant, it can be removed from the equation. This means that pressure is inversely
proportional to volume and directly proportional to temperature (in Kelvin)

ABSOLUTE TEMPERATURE
As pressure and temperature (in Kelvin) are directly proportional, they decrease
together. As the temperature gets lower, the gas particles move slower, exerting less
pressure on the container. Eventually, at -273C, all molecular motion stops and the
gas does not exert a pressure on its container. This temperature is known as
absolute zero and is used as the fixed point of the absolute temperature scale,
where it is given the temperature of 0 kelvin (0 K).

CONDUCTION
Conduction can happen in all states and occurs when particles have kinetic energy
which is passed by elastic collisions to other particles. Solids are the best
conductors, then liquids, then gases because particles collide more frequently as
they are closer in solids and liquids, and the inter-particle bonds in solids are
strongest.
Metals are particularly good conductors because of the mobile electrons, that are
free to move throughout the metallic structure, can transfer energy very easily. The
electrons behave as a sea that travels through the structure colliding with the
vibrating particles of the structure and transferring more thermal energy.

CONVECTION
Convection occurs in liquids and gases, as the particles are free to move, at a
constant pressure. The hotter particles have more energy so stronger molecular
collisions. Therefore they are further apart and so their volume is more. The same
amount of particles over a larger volume means that they are less dense because
density = mass/ volume. This means the hotter particles float upwards and the colder
particles are pushed downwards a convection current.
Ideal gases