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Gas Motion & Temperature

How does microscopic motion explain temperature and Brownian motion?

Temperature changes the speed distribution

What to notice

The idea

Temperature describes a distribution

Particles have different speeds even at the same temperature. The curve is the two-dimensional equilibrium speed distribution, fitted using the current mean squared speed. The initial random speeds need time to redistribute through collisions.

A larger tracer is present in both views. In Brownian motion, follow its irregular path as many small collisions change its motion. Changing views does not restart the gas.