[CsManiacDan (OP)]

Does anyone know about a formula that can be used to work out the speed of particles in a given reaction? I recently asked my Chemistry teacher this and she said their probably was one but didn't know of it.

Thanks

I Love Caesium!!!

[nilmot]

Mmm..sorry that I don't know the formula to calculate particles speed but I'm interested to know without sounding nosey but why do you love Caesium?

Tom

[cuso4]

quote:Originally posted by nilmot

.....why do you love Caesium?

Tom

Probably because it's reaction with water![] I always enjoy seeing the explosion and the glass breaking (Only saw it on TV though).
As to the particle speed formula, in physics lessons I remember studying a formula which can work out the kinetic energy of a particle just by measuring the temperature. I'll dig my notes out, this might be what you want.

Angel

[CsManiacDan (OP)]

cuso4's got it right! It always annoys me that they never show you the reaction in schools[] I understand why though.

Sounds like what you've got could be what i'm after. Keep looking

I Love Caesium!!!

[nilmot]

In that case I think everyone is school will love Caesium. They love explosion, in our group they asked the teacher to play the reaction at least 5 times

Tom

[Ylide]

I don't know the exact formula either, but I would guess that your could estimate it it out by figuring out the energy of reaction and dividing by the number of product molecules produced in the reaction.  Then use KE=1/2 mv^2 using the mass of the molecule and solve for v.  

That's not entirely accurate as there is going to be some vibrational and rotational components to the energy as well as the translational, so you answer is going to be on the high side.  You'd need some knowledge of physical chem to derive equations to account for those.  If they're gases, the equipartition theorem could work.



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[cuso4]

I got the formula but I don't think it will work for molecules in a reaction.

The formula I got is pressure = 1/3 x density x mean-squared-speed

This only apply to ideal gas, and also the condition is changing all the time in a reaction so I don't think this can be used.

Angel

[Monox D. I-Fly]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by nilmot</i>

.....why do you love Caesium?

Tom
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Probably because it's reaction with water![] I always enjoy seeing the explosion and the glass breaking (Only saw it on TV though).

My chemistry teacher told me that Natrium also explodes in water. Which explosion is bigger? Caesium in water or Natrium in water? What are radius for each of them?

[alancalverd]

The heavier Group 1 metals react more violently. Li just oxidises, Na floats and fizzes, K gets hot enough to ignite the expelled hydrogen, Rb metal melts with the heat of reaction, and Cs explodes on contact with water. I don't think anyone has looked at the hydrolysis of bulk francium.

[evan_au]

If you want to see the reactivity of an element, you can see videos about it here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/periodicvideos

They show typical uses of every (non-radioactive) element - which usually includes blowing it up, if at all possible.