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I really like the PhET gases simulation but would like more control, so have been experimenting with gas simulations in Algodoo. In the animation here I have made a box containing a large number of perfectly elastic spheres, They started moving the same way but as soon as they collide their energy become spread out (2nd law) and they move with random motion. arrows represent the forces exerted when the balls hit the sides of the box. You can see that on average the force is the same in all directions (maybe analysing frame by frame would be more convincing). The two boxes start off the same but then I adjust the restitution of the upper box so that the collisions are no longer elastic. The balls start to lose energy (the temp falls) as this happens the force exerted on the walls gets less. I think this has great potential to do alongside some hands on practical work for an investigation.
Tomorrow I will write a worksheet which I will test out on my students on Wednesday.
and here it is Simulating gases