Boltzmann constant

The Boltzmann constant (kB or k), named after Ludwig Boltzmann, is a physical co
nstant relating energy at the individual particle level with temperature. It is
the gas constant R divided by the Avogadro constant NA:
k = \frac{R}{N_\text{A}}.\,
The Boltzmann constant has the dimension energy divided by temperature, the same
as entropy. The accepted value in SI units is 1.38064852(79) 10 23 J/K.
Bridge from macroscopic to microscopic physics
Boltzmann's constant, k, is a bridge between macroscopic and microscopic physics
. Macroscopically, the ideal gas law states that, for an ideal gas, the product
of pressure p and volume V is proportional to the product of amount of substance
n (in moles) and absolute temperature T:
pV = nRT \,
where R is the gas constant (8.3144621(75) J K 1 mol
ransforms the ideal gas law into an alternative form:

1[1]). Introducing the Boltzmann

p V = N k T ,
where N is the number of molecules of gas. For n = 1 mol, N is equal to the numb
er of particles in one mole (Avogadro's number).
Role in the equipartition of energy
Main article: Equipartition of energy
Given a thermodynamic system at an absolute temperature T, the average thermal e
nergy carried by each microscopic degree of freedom in the system is on the orde
r of magnitude of kT/2 (i.e., about 2.07 10 21 J, or 0.013 eV, at room temperature).
Application to simple gas thermodynamics
In classical statistical mechanics, this average is predicted to hold exactly fo
r homogeneous ideal gases. Monatomic ideal gases possess three degrees of freedo
m per atom, corresponding to the three spatial directions, which means a thermal
energy of 1.5kT per atom. This corresponds very well with experimental data. Th
e thermal energy can be used to calculate the root-mean-square speed of the atom
s, which turns out to be inversely proportional to the square root of the atomic
mass. The root mean square speeds found at room temperature accurately reflect
this, ranging from 1370 m/s for helium, down to 240 m/s for xenon.
Kinetic theory gives the average pressure p for an ideal gas as
p = \frac{1}{3}\frac{N}{V} m \overline{v^2}.
Combination with the ideal gas law
p V = N k T
shows that the average translational kinetic energy is
\tfrac{1}{2}m \overline{v^2} = \tfrac{3}{2} k T.
Considering that the translational motion velocity vector v has three degrees of
freedom (one for each dimension) gives the average energy per degree of freedom
equal to one third of that, i.e. kT/2.

The ideal gas equation is also obeyed closely by molecular gases; but the form f
or the heat capacity is more complicated, because the molecules possess addition
al internal degrees of freedom, as well as the three degrees of freedom for move
ment of the molecule as a whole. Diatomic gases, for example, possess a total of
six degrees of simple freedom per molecule that are related to atomic motion (t
hree translational, two rotational, and one vibrational). At lower temperatures,
not all these degrees of freedom may fully participate in the gas heat capacity
, due to quantum mechanical limits on the availability of excited states at the
relevant thermal energy per molecule.
Role in Boltzmann factors
More generally, systems in equilibrium at temperature T have probability Pi of o
ccupying a state i with energy E weighted by the corresponding Boltzmann factor:
P_i \propto \frac{\exp\left(-\frac{E}{k T}\right)}{Z},
where Z is the partition function. Again, it is the energy-like quantity kT that
takes central importance.
Consequences of this include (in addition to the results for ideal gases above)
the Arrhenius equation in chemical kinetics.