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Home Concept Builders Gases and Gas Laws Pressure Concepts Help Help 1

Pressure Concepts - Questions 1 Help

A sample of gas has a pressure due to the collisions of moving gas particles with the container walls. This pressure can be understood at the particle level. Each collision of a gas particle with the container wall results in a force on the wall. Because there are so many particles colliding so frequently with the container wall, there is enough force that accumulates to result in a noticeable pressure. Any variable that effects the ratio of the cumulative amount of force per unit of wall area will effect this pressure.

There are two very similar versions of questions in this Question Group. One of the versions is shown below.

Version 1:
When comparing the gas pressure of different containers, one can be certain that the container with the highest pressure will be the one with the …

largest surface area
smallest surface area
greatest ratio of collision force to surface area
smallest ratio of collision force to surface area
most forceful collisions of particles on the wall
least forceful collisions of particles on the wall

Gases push! They push outward upon the walls of the container that contains them. And this pushing is the result of collisions. Each collision of a gas particle on a container wall contributes to an overall amount of force on the wall. By definition, the pressure is the total force divided by the area of the container walls. So to maximize pressure, this ratio of force per area would have to be maximized. The larger the ratio ... the larger the pressure.

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