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At 0 K which of the following properties of a gas will be zero?

Asked in NEET 1996 · Kinetic energy per molecule

Answer: (3) kinetic energy

Step-by-step solution

Kinetic theory ties temperature to molecular motion: the average translational kinetic energy per molecule is 3/2k_BT.

That expression is proportional to T on the absolute scale.

Setting T=0 K gives zero kinetic energy — on the classical picture, all molecular motion has stopped.

None of the other three quantities is fixed by the temperature in that way.

So it is the kinetic energy that becomes zero at absolute zero.

Why the other options are wrong

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