Practice portal › Kinetic Theory of Gases › Degrees of Freedom and Equipartition
Asked in NEET 1993 · Degrees of freedom and equipartition
Translational degrees of freedom count the independent directions in which a molecule's centre of mass can move.
Space has three such directions, whatever the shape of the molecule.
A rigid diatomic molecule adds two rotational modes, about the two axes perpendicular to the bond, giving five in all.
But those extra two are rotational, not translational.
So the number of translational degrees of freedom is 3.
Reading this solution needs no sign-in. You only sign in to practise against the clock and keep your progress.
Practise this with a timer