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On 12/04/2008 07:19 AM, Rick Tarara wrote:
The thermal energy (heat) is roughly the
measure of the total kinetic energy of all the molecules.
I wouldn't say that, not even "roughly".
1) It would be better to add the word "random". A cold,
fast-moving bullet has lots of kinetic energy that must
not be counted as part of the thermal energy.
2) It would be better to remove the word "kinetic". In a
solid, very nearly half of the thermal energy is kinetic
energy and the other half is potential energy. Hint:
treat thermal phonons as harmonic oscillators.
In this regard, solids differ from ideal gases. But there
is more to physics than ideal gases.
This is a very common mistake, but it's still a mistake.
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