Recent content by Christopher M

I'm not an advanced physics student -- I've only taken the basic year -- but I'm curious about a conceptual issue and wonder if someone could give me a satisfying explanation. There are obviously pretty tight parallels between basic linear kinematics/dynamics and the rotational equivalents --...

Thanks for the response! But if energy goes into making the molecules vibrate back and forth more energetically, doesn't that increase temperature (since temperature is average kinetic energy)? In other words, if all the energy goes into kinetic energy -- and temperature is average kinetic...

This is not a homework question, just a question about physics that seems too basic to post in the main physics discussion forum. Please let me know if it is misplaced. Temperature is average molecular kinetic energy. Is it therefore correct to say that a material's specific heat capacity...