Chronology | Current Month | Current Thread | Current Date |
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] | [Date Index] [Thread Index] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] | [Date Prev] [Date Next] |
Two related comments. I think that limiting the equipartition theorem to
quadratic degrees of freedom is rather err, well "limiting".
I think one can extend the theorem to other sorts of degrees of freedom, of
course it no longer would be kT/2 per degree of freedom, but would have to
be changed to kT/2 for the quadratic guys and #### for the degrees of
freedom of type A and $$$$ for the one's of type B, etc etc.
And for Dan's comment, aren't some of those internal chemical energy degrees
of freedom quadratic in nature and included in the equipartition theorem.
E.g. any chemical bond that is reasonably modeled as a Hooke's Law spring
and therefore having vibrational kinetic and potential energy degrees of
freedom?
Joel Rauber