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Thermal Physics

Write short note on degrees of freedom for triatomic gas molecules

Profile image of Shalin Joseph
14 Years agoGrade
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1 Answer

Profile image of Rahul Kumar
14 Years ago

the equipartition theorem states that per each degree of freedom it has an energy of 1/2kT associated with it. So, for a monatomic gas, there are three degrees of freedom associated with the translational components of each atom (along X, Y, or Z). There are no rotational components since nearly all the mass of the atom is located at the center.