Answer to Question #137583 in Classical Mechanics for Max

Question

Expalin equipartitiom theorem.

Answer 1

Solution

Equipartitiom theorem:according to this theorem the contibution of each degree of freedom to average kinetic energy is given by $\frac{kT}{2}.$

For non-relativistic case this energy is kT/2 and for relativistic case is kT.

In other words the contribution of each quadratic term in Hamiltonian to average thermal energy is kT/2.