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Root Mean Squared Speed.?
10. The root-mean-square sped of molecules in a gas is:
A) the most probable speed
B) that speed such that half the molecules are moving faster than vrms and the other half are moving slower
C) the average speed of the molecules
D) the square root of the square of the average speed
E) none of the above
Why is the ans E)? Seems like it should be D) by definition.
Thanks!
Ahh, is it a play on words? RMS speed is the root of the average of the speeds squared, not the root of the square of the average speed? Physics profs are always so tricky lol.
3 Answers
- JaredLv 78 years agoFavorite Answer
You're correct (your additional details)...just remember, the root-mean-square is an average-like measure of the speed. It's basically the square root of a sum of all velocities squared, then divided by the number of particles.:
sqrt(v^2 + v^2 + v^2 ...)
- SteveLv 78 years ago
It is defined as the square root of the average velocity-squared of the molecules in a gas.
- ArantheoLv 78 years ago
It is sometimes stated that the 'mean' means average. This is incorrect if "mean" is taken in the specific sense of "arithmetic mean" as there are different types of averages
There are other statistical measures of central tendency that should not be confused with means - including the 'median' and 'mode'
