A Microscopic Perspective on the Work Done by an Ideal Gas (Journal Article)

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Abstract: The goal of the molecular theory of gases is to understand the macroscopic properties of gases through an analysis of the behavior of its constituents, atoms, or molecules. One of the most prominent outcomes from such a theory is the expression for pressure of an ideal gas given in terms of the mean kinetic energy of molecules. When this result is combined with the ideal-gas equation, it enables us to understand another fundamental thermodynamic quantity, i.e., temperature, as being directly proportional to the mean kinetic energy of the gas molecules. While these topics are included in almost any standard textbook on general physics,1–6 another interesting possibility of the molecular theory of gases has unfortunately, to my knowledge, not been examined and presented at the undergraduate level so far. What I mean is the possibility to develop an expression for macroscopically defined thermodynamic work based on an analysis of microscopic processes that affect properties of molecules and in effect also change the internal energy of the gas.