Thermodynamics & Heat
Advanced

Average KE of a Gas Molecule

Mean translational kinetic energy per molecule.

Formula

Eˉ=32kBT\bar{E} = \tfrac{3}{2}k_B T

Variables

k_BBoltzmann constant
TTemperature

Did You Know?

Temperature is really just the average kinetic energy of molecules, so "hot" means "jiggling faster".

kinetic theoryenergy