Which of the following gases will have the highest RMS speed at the same temperature?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
Which of the following gases will have the highest RMS speed at the same temperature?
Oxygen (M = 32 g/mol)
Nitrogen (M = 28 g/mol)
Hydrogen (M = 2 g/mol)
Carbon Dioxide (M = 44 g/mol)
RMS speed is inversely proportional to the square root of molar mass. Hydrogen has the lowest molar mass, hence it will have the highest RMS speed.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: Which of the following gases will have the highest RMS speed at the same temperature?
Solution: RMS speed is inversely proportional to the square root of molar mass. Hydrogen has the lowest molar mass, hence it will have the highest RMS speed.
Steps: 6
Step 1: Understand what RMS speed is. RMS speed stands for Root Mean Square speed, which is a way to measure the average speed of gas molecules.
Step 2: Know that the RMS speed of a gas is affected by its molar mass. The formula shows that RMS speed is inversely proportional to the square root of the molar mass.
Step 3: Remember that 'inversely proportional' means that as the molar mass increases, the RMS speed decreases.
Step 4: Identify the gases you are comparing and find their molar masses. For example, hydrogen (H2) has a molar mass of about 2 g/mol, while other gases like oxygen (O2) have a molar mass of about 32 g/mol.
Step 5: Compare the molar masses. The gas with the lowest molar mass will have the highest RMS speed.
Step 6: Conclude that since hydrogen has the lowest molar mass among common gases, it will have the highest RMS speed at the same temperature.
