Law of Equipartition of Energy
Given below are two statements:
Statement I: In a diatomic molecule, the rotational energy at a given temperature obeys Maxwell's distribution.
Statement II: In a diatomic molecule, the rotational energy at a given temperature equals the translational kinetic energy for each molecule.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Show answer and solution
Answer: (c)
- Statement I: true; rotational energies of molecules are distributed statistically (Maxwell–Boltzmann) like translational energies.
- Statement II: diatomic rotational energy , translational ; not equal, so false.
- So the answer is (c) Statement I is true but Statement II is false.