Editing Kinetic theory of gases

The kinetic theory of gases explains the behaviour of (idea) gases in terms of the motion of their constituent particles, i. e. atoms or molecules. It does so by relating the macroscopic quantities that describe a gas (such as temperature, pressure or internal energy) to the microscopic quantities associated with the particles (such as speed, momentum, kinetic energy).
==Decoding work done==

===Identification of bottleneck===
There are a number of bottlenecks associated with the microscopic model of the ideal gas. 

One of them involves the correct relationships between the microscopic and the macroscopic quantities. While most students easily accept the association of particle kinetic energy with temperature or of the sum of kinetic and inter-particle potential energy with internal energy, understanding pressure in microscopic terms (average momentum transferred per collision with wall times particle flux incident on wall) requires a good understanding of single-particle mechanics. 

Another bottleneck that has been observed may be of a more fundamental nature. Students frequently ascribe the increase in temperature during an adiabatic compression of an ideal gas (for example, in a cylinder-piston system) to the increased number of collisions between gas particles. This explanation is severely flawed as collisions between particles of an ideal gas are assumed to be elastic and, furthermore, these collisions constantly happen even if no external change is made to the gas (which should result in a perpetual increase in temperature).   
===Description of mental tasks needed to overcome the bottleneck===

===Modelling the tasks===

===Practice and Feedback===

===Anticipate and lessen resistance===

===Assessment of student mastery===

===Sharing===

==Related scholarly work on this bottleneck==
<s>Student understanding of the voltage across an open circuit (or across an open switch) has been the focus of several studies in Physics and Engineering Education Research. Much of this work has been summarized in a [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dion-Timmermann/publication/285512110_Student_Understanding_of_Open_Switches_and_Open_Circuits_What_Do_We_Not_Know/links/576289be08ae5d145f354cab/Student-Understanding-of-Open-Switches-and-Open-Circuits-What-Do-We-Not-Know.pdf review article] by Timmermann and Kautz presented at the Research in Engineering Education Symposium in Dublin in 2015.</s>

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==Researchers involved==

==Available resources==

==See also==

==Notes==

==References==
Kautz,C., et al.: Student understanding of the ideal gas law, Part II: A microscopic perspective, ''American Journal of Physics 73 (11),'' 1064-1071 (2005).<br />
[[Category:Decoding work]]
[[Category:Bottleneck]]
[[Category:Physics]]

[[Category:Engineering Thermodynamics]]