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The mean speed , most probable speed v p, and root-mean-square speed can be obtained from properties of the Maxwell distribution. This works well for nearly ideal , monatomic gases like helium , but also for molecular gases like diatomic oxygen .
The most probable (or mode) speed is 81.6% of the root-mean-square speed , and the mean (arithmetic mean, or average) speed ¯ is 92.1% of the rms speed (isotropic distribution of speeds). See: Average, Root-mean-square speed; Arithmetic mean; Mean; Mode (statistics)
Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics grew out of the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution, most likely as a distillation of the underlying technique. [dubious – discuss] The distribution was first derived by Maxwell in 1860 on heuristic grounds. Boltzmann later, in the 1870s, carried out significant investigations into the physical origins of this ...
As a consequence, since kinetic energy is equal to 1 ⁄ 2 (mass)(velocity) 2, the heavier atoms of xenon have a lower average speed than do the lighter atoms of helium at the same temperature. Figure 2 shows the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution for the speeds of the atoms in four noble gases.
Thermal velocity or thermal speed is a typical velocity of the thermal motion of particles that make up a gas, liquid, etc. Thus, indirectly, thermal velocity is a measure of temperature. Technically speaking, it is a measure of the width of the peak in the Maxwell–Boltzmann particle velocity distribution.
A thermal neutron is a free neutron with a kinetic energy of about 0.025 eV (about 4.0×10 −21 J or 2.4 MJ/kg, hence a speed of 2.19 km/s), which is the energy corresponding to the most probable speed at a temperature of 290 K (17 °C or 62 °F), the mode of the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution for this temperature, E peak = k T.
Boltzmann's distribution is an exponential distribution. Boltzmann factor (vertical axis) as a function of temperature T for several energy differences ε i − ε j.. In statistical mechanics and mathematics, a Boltzmann distribution (also called Gibbs distribution [1]) is a probability distribution or probability measure that gives the probability that a system will be in a certain ...
Boltzmann also extended his theory in his 1877 paper beyond Carnot, Rudolf Clausius, James Clerk Maxwell and Lord Kelvin by demonstrating that entropy is contributed to by heat, spatial separation, and radiation. [27] Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics and the Boltzmann distribution remain central in the foundations of classical statistical mechanics.