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Name |
Boltzmann's Constant |
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Equation |
k
B
=
R
N
A
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Definition of terms |
kB = Boltzmann's constant, R = molar gas constant, NA = Avogadro constant |
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Comments |
Ludwig Boltzmann (1844 - 1906) derived the relation S = kB ln g where S is the entropy of a system, and g is the number of ways in which the system's microstates can be arranged.
Boltzmann's constant also appears in the definition of temperature, the ideal gas law, the Planck blackbody distribution, and the kinetic energy equations.
Here, we see that Boltzmann's constant is equal to the molar gas constant divided by the Avogadro constant (the number of elementary entities in a mole). This means that the ideal gas equation pV = nRTcan also be written as pV = NkBT, where n is the number of moles, and N is the number of atoms. |
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References
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The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics , 81st edition, 2000-2001
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Physics and Mathematics , McGraw-Hill, 1978
Thermal Physics , C Kittel, H Kroemer, 2nd edition, W H Freeman & Co., 1980
CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical constants: 1998 , P J Mohr, B N Taylor, Rev. Mod. Phys. 72 (2), 2000 |
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