Equipartition theorem

From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

Jump to: navigation, search


This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Talk
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
 
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki?title=Equipartition_theorem&printable=yes
This is a draft article, under development and not meant to be cited but you can help to improve it. These unapproved articles are subject to a disclaimer.

The Theorem of the Equipartition of energy is a construct of classical mechanics and was first introduced by James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879). It states:

"Every kind of molecule has a particular number of degrees of freedom f which are independent ways in which it can store energy. Each such degree of freedom has associated with it, on average, an energy of \frac{1}{2}\ kT per molecule or \frac{1}{2}\ RT per mole, where k is the Boltzmann constant, R is the molar gas constant and T is temperature in kelvin."[1].

Degrees of freedom can be translational, rotational, or oscillatory.

Simple particles such as a monoatomic gas for instance will have three degrees of freedom, one for each dimension of potential movement. More complex molecules can have more degrees of freedom.

  1. ↑ Fundamentals of Physics, Fourth Edition by David Halliday, Robert Resnick, and Jearl Walker p591
Retrieved from "http://reid.citizendium.org/wiki/Equipartition_theorem"
Views
Personal tools