How does heating up a gas affect the average speed of the gas particles? I think that heating up a gas increases the temperature of the gas. A higher temperature increases the speed of the particles in the gas.
However, there is a step missing from my answer to get full marks.
The step is that we note that a higher temperature means a higher kinetic energy. This then means a greater average speed of the particles in the gas
My question then:
Why are these two points spoken about separately? After all, is speed not kinetic energy and is kinetic energy not speed?
Would it be wrong to say that increasing the temperature increases the speed of the particles, which in turn increases their kinetic energy.
The ideal answer speaks about higher kinetic energy as if it causes higher speeds rather than higher speed causing higher kinetic energies.
Hope someone can help me clear this up
 A: Your question suggests that you think that the temperature of the gas, the average kinetic energy of the atoms in the gas and the average speed of the atoms in the gas are three separate phenomena which are causally connected. In fact, they are three different ways of describing one and the same phenomenon. In an ideal gas, temperature, average kinetic energy and the average square speed of atoms are each proportional to each other.
Note, however, that heat and temperature are separate phenomena. You can put heat into a gas without changing its temperature - if, for example, the gas does work by expanding.
A: Say it any way you like, but keep in mind that the absolute temperature is proportional to the average squared velocity.
A: You will need to understand the relationship between temperature, speed and kinetic energy.
Prior knowledge:
Temperature is a measure of how hot or cold a body is. It is directly proportional to the average KE for an ideal gas. The constant proportionality is $\frac32$$kT$ where $k$ is the Boltzmann constant.
Kinetic energy (KE) = $\frac12$$mv^2$, where the magnitude of $v$ is the speed.
Answers to your questions:
Increasing the temperature increases the average KE, which increases the speed.
It is wrong to equate KE and speed because there is another factor, mass, which influences the KE. Plus, KE is not directly proportional to speed.
Based on the first equation, temperature is only related to the average KE, not the speed. Therefore, the second equation is required to calculate the relationship between temperature and speed. However, there is another variable, mass, in the second equation which does not allow a universal relationship between temperature and speed.
In this case, increase in temperature causes increase in average KE, which then causes increase in speed.
Temperature (T) = $mv^2\over3k$
