What property is best associated with the frequency of particle collisions?

a. volume
b. temperature
c. pressure
d. moles

1 Answer

Temperature

Explanation:

If you mean regarding pressure, then it's still indirectly temperature; it's because a higher average kinetic energy corresponds to faster particle motion, so they'll hit the walls of the container more often in the same amount of time (more frequently).

Otherwise, the rate constant as a function of temperature, which one would relate with collision theory, is given by the Arrhenius equation:

#k(T) = Ae^(-E_a//RT)#

  • #A = Zrho# is the frequency factor, with #Z# the collision frequency and #rho# the steric factor.
  • #E_a# is the activation energy, typically reported in #"kJ/mol"#.
  • #T# is the temperature in #"K"#.
  • #R = "8.314472 J/mol"cdot"K"# is the gas constant. Note that this must be converted to match the energy units of #E_a#.

The collision frequency, #Z#, is proportional to #sqrt(T)#.