Piston

The piston model was created using GPCEE

Download the StarLogoT source code for the Piston model:
Download piston

To run this file you need StarLogoT2002 for the Macintosh.
(download StarLogoT)

Click on one of the pictures to see a quicktime movie of the model:
There are 500 molecules in the box. The piston is massless and therefore imparts no energy to the molecules it collides with. The piston moves every 50 cycles, from: 1/2 -> 1 -> 1/4 -> 1/8. (365 k)

The plot to the right shows how the pressure changes as the piston moves. The red line is a statistical measure of the pressure based on the volume of the piston and the average velocity of all the molecules. The blue line is a micro-level measurement of the pressure based on molecules collisions with the walls of the box.

There are 500 molecules in the box. The piston does have mass and therefore imparts energy to the molecules it collides with when it is moving. The piston moves every 50 cycles, from: 1/2 -> 1/4 -> 1/8. (234 k)

The plot to the right shows the count of the molecules moving at various speeds: RED - fast GREEN - medium BLUE - slow Notice that after each impact the number of red molecules increase.