Ladder

Kinetic theory — the ladder

2 distinct arguments against one idea, from the one that introduces it to the one that assumes the rest.
  1. 0123456700.20.40.60.8speedT = 0.5T = 1T = 2T = 4no molecule has the average speed; most are near it

    The speeds in a still room

    The air in a quiet room is not still. Every molecule in it is moving at hundreds of metres per second, and temperature is a single number summarising an entire distribution.

    rung 1 · thermodynamics
  2. wallamber: heading for the wallgrey: not, this instant11 of 26approaching⟨v²⟩ = 3.03⟨vₓ²⟩ = 1.50ratio 0.49expected 0.50Σ2mvₓ = 21.1

    Pressure is a rate of arrival, and the gas law falls out of counting

    Nothing in a gas is pushing on the walls. Molecules arrive, bounce, and leave, and pressure is the momentum they deliver per second — from which the ideal gas law follows with no thermodynamics in it at all.

    rung 2 · thermodynamics

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