ENERGETIC COLLISIONS - KMT, Maxwell-Boltzmann, and Deviating from Ideal Behavior
On October 24th, we held another fantastic AP Teach meeting where we looked at gases, specifically deviations from ideal gas law and Maxwell-Boltzmann distributions. We kicked off the meeting with an update: the new AP Chemistry hybrid exam will now include access to a Desmos graphing calculator in the Bluebook application. For information about the AP Chemistry exam, please visit AP Central.
Video highlights from the October 2024 APTeach Session.
During the session, we explored how factors like particle volume and interparticle attractions can cause real gases to deviate from ideal gas behavior. It’s important for students to understand not only what causes these deviations but how they impact the measured versus calculated pressures. We reviewed past AP questions on gas law deviations, highlighting some of the common mistakes, and examined a POGIL activity and questions that could be used to reinforce these concepts in the classroom.
We then looked at Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution curves. We emphasized the importance of students recognizing that gas particles in a system exhibit a range of speeds. Key points covered included the effects of molar mass and the temperature changes on the distribution curves. Students should be aware that when molar mass decreases or temperature increases, the curve shifts toward higher speeds and broadens, while the area under the curve remains constant to represent that the number of particles did not change. We also explored the connections between Maxwell-Boltzmann distributions in gases and kinetics. Instructional tools such as Desmos activities, POGILs, and PhET simulations were presented as ways to increase student understanding.
The evening ended with breakout rooms where teachers shared favorite activities for illustrating Maxwell-Boltzmann distributions to their students and discussed how to connect these concepts in gases and kinetics. A lot of great suggestions were made in the breakout rooms!
View the PRESENTATION SLIDEDECK and access resource links shared in the full presentation.
Watch the APTeach Session Notes and Updates article for summaries of past meetings and announcements for upcoming presentations.
Each one hour APTeach Zoom session provides 15-20 minutes of a discussion centered around a challenging chemistry topic before moving into breakout rooms that allow small groups of teachers to share their best teaching practices related to that content.
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