CHAPTER TWELVE

. INTRODUCTION Boyle discovered the law named after him in . Boyle, Newton and several others tried to explain the behaviour of gases by considering that gases are made up of tiny atomic particles. The actual atomic theory got established more than years later.

Kinetic theory explains the behaviour of gases based on the idea that the gas consists of rapidly moving atoms or molecules. This is possible as the inter-atomic forces, which are short range forces that are important for solids and liquids, can be neglected for gases. The kinetic theory was developed in the nineteenth century by Maxwell, Boltzmann and others. It has been remarkably successful.

It gives a molecular interpretation of pressure and temperature of a gas, and is consistent with gas laws and Avogadro’s hypothesis. It correctly explains specific heat capacities of many gases. It also relates measurable properties of gases such as viscosity, conduction and diffusion with molecular parameters, yielding estimates of molecular sizes and masses. This chapter gives an introduction to kinetic theory.