What is the degrees of freedom of helium gas ?

AI Thread Summary
Helium gas is monatomic, meaning it consists of single atoms rather than pairs, which classifies it as a noble gas. The degrees of freedom for monatomic gases like helium is 3, corresponding to the three translational motion axes. In contrast, diatomic gases have 5 degrees of freedom due to additional rotational motions. The periodic table can help identify whether an element is monatomic or diatomic, with helium being a clear example of a monatomic noble gas. Understanding these distinctions is crucial for studying gas behavior in thermodynamics.
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what is the degrees of freedom of helium gas ?

shouldn't helium gas be diatomic ? If so , it will be 5 .

i have problems differentiating monoatomic and diatomic . Though its obvious that mono is one atom and diatomic is 2 atoms . Is it possible to know whether its mono or diatomic from the periodic table ?
 
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Helium is monatomic and is called a "noble" gas for that reason. All gases in the same column below helium in the periodic table are noble gases.
 

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