Kinetic energy is the energy that an object possesses due to its motion. In the context of gases, it's the energy of gas molecules zipping around. The equation for kinetic energy is given by:\[ E_k = \frac{1}{2}mv^2 \]where:
- \(E_k\) is kinetic energy.
- \(m\) is mass.
- \(v\) is velocity (or speed).
This means that for any gas molecule, its kinetic energy increases as its speed increases. Since temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a gas, at a given temperature, all gas molecules will have the same average kinetic energy. However, their speeds will vary depending on their masses.