Thermal energy of an ideal gas

Description

Thermal energy is a term sometimes used to refer to the internal energy present in a system in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium by virtue of its temperature. The average translational kinetic energy possessed by free particles in a system of free particles in thermodynamic equilibrium (as measured in the frame of reference of the center of mass of that system) may also be referred to as the thermal energy per particle. The ideal gas is a gas of particles considered as point objects of perfect spherical symmetry that interact only by elastic collisions and fill a volume such that their mean free path between collisions is much larger than their diameter. The total thermal energy of a gas consisting of N atoms is given by the sum of kinetic energies of the particles , assuming no losses to the container or the environment: