Rankers Physics
Topic: Thermal Physics
Subtopic: Kinetic Theory of Gases

A polyatomic gas with $n$ degrees of freedom has a mean energy per molecule given by: (1989)
$\frac{nkT}{N}$
$\frac{nkT}{2N}$
$\frac{nkT}{2}$
$\frac{3kT}{2}$

Solution:

According to the law of equipartition of energy, the average energy associated with each degree of freedom per molecule is $\frac{1}{2}kT$. For a molecule with $n$ degrees of freedom, the total mean energy is $\frac{n}{2}kT$.

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