Temperature and Kinetic Energy question

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
2 replies · 2K views
9giddjl
Messages
34
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


At a certain temperature a sample of oxygen has a pressure of 2.0 x 10^6 Pa, and a density of 4.0 x 10^-3 g cm^-3. Find the average speed of the oxygen molecules of the gas.

Homework Equations



Ek= 3/2kT
Ek= 1/2mv^2


The Attempt at a Solution


I know that the mass of oxygen is 32 g per mole so with this i could find the mass of an individual molecule= 32 g/ 6.02 x 10^23 g
=5.3 x 10^-26 kg
I know P= 2.0 x 10^6 Pa

I just don't understand what to do with the density? can somebody please help me, any help would be much aprpeciated:)
Thankyou!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You can't compute the average speed form the average kinetic energy, as that would yield the the average of squared velocity and then taking the squre root does not give you the average of the absolute value (modulus) of the velocity.