9.

5 DEGREE OF FREEDOM & LAW OF

EQUIPARTITION OF ENERGY
Learning outcomes:
Students should be able to:
• Define the degrees of freedom of a gas molecule.
• Identify the number of degrees of freedom of a
monatomic, diatomic or polyatomic molecule at room
temperature.
• Explain the variation in the number of degrees of
freedom of a diatomic molecule ranging from very low
to very high temperature.
• State and apply the law of equipartition of energy
Symbol of degree of freedom is f
 TEMPERATURE FACTOR
Temperature has an effect on the degrees of freedom of a diatomic gas.

Almost all motions of diatomic molecules are

At very low translational. Rotational motions are insignificant.
temperature Hence, the diatomic molecules exhibit only 3
degrees of freedom

At room Diatomic molecules exhibit 5 degrees of freedom,

temperature 3 translational and 2 rotational.

Vibrational motion becomes significant. There is a

At very high
total of seven degrees of freedom, that is all the 5
temperature
degrees at room temperature plus two additional
(above 1000 K)
ones due to vibration.
 PRINCIPLE OF EQUIPARTITION OF ENERGY

The principle of equipartition of energy states that when a system is in

thermodynamic equilibrium, the average energy per molecule is ½ kT for each
degree of freedom.

Where k = boltzman’s constant

T = thermodynamic temperature

This principle was proposed on the basis of the understanding of monatomic gases
and their three degrees of freedom.

For a molecule with f degrees of freedom,

 𝒇
Mean kinetic energy/ average total energy is given by: 𝒌𝑻
𝟐
 9.6 INTERNAL ENERGY OF AN IDEAL GAS

Learning outcomes:
Students should be able to:
• Distinguish between and ideal gas and
real gas
• Explain the concept of internal energy of
an ideal gas
• Derive and use the relationship between
the internal energy and the number of
degrees of freedom
 INTERNAL ENERGY
• Internal energy of a substance - sum of all its potential and
kinetic energy.
• For real gas, there are forces between molecules, especially
at high pressure. Hence the internal energy of real gases
consists of both K.E and P.E.
• For an ideal gas, there is no potential energy because the
interactions between the molecules are assumed to be
insignificant.
• As a result, the total energy of the system is just the sum of
the kinetic energy of each of its molecule.
 INTERNAL ENERGY
• For one mole of gas molecules, the
internal energy:
 INTERNAL ENERGY
• Hence, for n moles of gas molecules.
The internal energy can be related to
the degrees of freedom:
Type of molecule

Monatomic Diatomic Polyatomic

No. of degrees of
freedom, f 3 5 6
Internal energy for n 5/2
3/2 nRT 3 nRT
moles nRT
END OF CHAPTER 9