CEM 141 Lecture Notes - Lecture 37: Heat Capacity
Document Summary
Maxwell-boltzmann distribution for different gases (ne, ar, kr) at the same temperature. When gas molecules collide why don"t they stick together? (what would happen if they did?) The molecules don"t stick together because they have enough energy to overcome the attractive interactions (otherwise the substance would not be a gas. Molecules collide with each other and therefore don"t move in a straight line (brownian motion) But there are other forms of movement (eg. rotation and vibration) that are important for more complex material. Temperature tells you which direction thermal energy will transfer (hot to cold) Related to ke of molecules (= 3/2kt) Ke can be related to more than translation (moving in one direction) There are other forms of movement e. g. vibration and rotation - that are important for more complex material. Thermal energy: energy associated with motion of particles (unit is joule)
