The Equipartition theorem reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Equipartition theorem

In thermodynamics, the equipartition theorem says that the mean internal energy associated with each degree of freedom of a monoatomic ideal gas is the same.

For a molecule of gas, each component of velocity has an associated kinetic energy. This kinetic energy, in joules, is on average,

where k is the Boltzmann constant, and T is the temperature of the molecule in kelvins. The components of velocity can be either linear or angular.

See also

• Kinetic theory

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