Question

Arrange the following molecules in order of increasing average molecular speed. All are at the same temperature. hydrogen, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen Enter formulas in the boxes below: 1 = slowest, 4 = fastest ? 1 2 3 4

Answer 1

`stackrel(SO_2,NO_2,N_2,H_2)rarr`
`stackrel("increasing molecular speed")rarr`

Explanation:

Given the same temperature, all of the gases are considered to have the same kinetic energy, i.e. `1/2*mv^2`... It follows that the LIGHTER gases are moving FASTER....and so we simply take the order of decreasing molecular mass to assign molecular speed, from fastest to slowest...