ÉîÒ¹ÑÇÖÞ¸£Àû¾Ã¾Ã

The Physlet on the can be used understand the basic ideas underlying the principle of equipartition of energy in a gas.

First choose a small number (say 20) of molecules of a monatomic gas and run the simulation; as one would expect, the total energy of the system remains constant.

Next try the same number of diatomic molecules. In this case the total energy is also constant but is distributed between translational and rotational forms. Because of the small number of molecules involved there is a statisical fluctuation in the energy in each of these modes but on average half the energy goes into each mode. Using a larger number of molecules, the statistical fluctuations are reduced.

Finally, investigate the situation in which the system is comprised of a mixture of monotomic and diatomic molecules.