9.4

Question 1

what is the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution ?

Answer 1

• particles of gas in a sample move at different speeds
• some molecules move fast and have high energy
• some molecules move slow and have low energy
• most particles move with moerate speeds
• they have different amounts of kinetic energy

Question 2

Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution ?

Answer 2

• graph starts at 0,0 as no particles have zero kinetic energy
• the area under the curve is equal to the number of molecules
• particles with energy greater than the activation energy can react

Question 3

Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution - temperature increase

Answer 3

• a large proportion of the molecules will have energy greater than the activation energy
• area under the curve beyond the activation energy increases
• shifts to the right
• peak is lower

Question 4

Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution - temperature decrease

Answer 4

• a small proportion of the molecules will have energy greater than the activation energy
• area under the curve beyond the activation energy decreases
• shifts to the left
• peak is higher

Question 5

does the area under the curve in Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution change when the temperature is changed ?

Answer 5

no it remans the same