6: The Distribution of Gas Velocities
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- 6.9: Pressure Variations for Macroscopic Samples
- Clearly the relative variation among molecular speeds in a sample of ordinary gas is very large. Why do we not observe macroscopic effects from this variation? In particular, if we measure the pressure at a small area of the container wall, why do we not observe pressure variations that reflect the wide variety of speeds with which molecules strike the wall?