In 1859 James Klerk Maxwell speculated on the properties of air based on almost prophetic postulates. J. C. Maxwell visualised air particles as tiny solid spheres travelling distances that are much greater than their diameters. Maxwell presumed all particles in a gas volume are initially at random positions. Maxwell devised as though experiment in which the law of entropy may be breached if the particle in given volume could be spontaneously organised, dubbed by lord kelvin as Maxwell’s dæmon.
The average speed of an air molecule is 1000mph. Maxwell postulated molecules travel between collisions at a constant speed. Interactions between particles conserve energy but still some will deviate from average greatly, traveling much faster or slower than average velocity. Maxwell prophesised the properties of the ‘at the time’ undiscovered Nobel gases in his ideal gas model which overlooked the influence of intermolecular forces.
Maxwell’s insights into the properties of gases allowed him to create a new definition of temperature. Temperature is now understood as the mean squared velocity, because temperature is directly proportional to pressure (at constant volume and mass). Pressure is the force per unit area exerted on the inside of a container. Therefore Maxwell’s ideal gas laws describe the relationship between pressure per unit area and the frequency of collisions in a given volume. Pressure is the kinetic energy of gas particles colliding with the inside of a container.
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