Recent content by Wilko

Let me clarify something else, I'm not suggesting you can't get more "heat" moving through the gas when you illuminate it with IR; the thought experiment is very carefully designed to see if it will increase Volume or Pressure. I understand quite specifically that the definition of Temperature...

Anyway, since we're gambling with coins, whose money is on the balloon expanding? Any thoughts on the outcome of the thought experiment?

Spectral broadening gives us some clues as to how energy is conserved and exchanged between the vibrational and translational states. I understand that in the broadest sense there's Natural Broadening, Doppler Broadening and Pressure Broadening. I'm just going to consider one aspect of Pressure...

Pete (hope you don't mind me taking that liberty) the coin flip idea is an interesting way to model the exchange of energy between vibrational and translational states, but I think the design could be improved a bit, forgive me if this sounds condescending. For one thing, what you've described...

Alxm, gotcha, partition function, that's going to be fun. Yikes. I already understand there's a Maxwellian distribution of particle velocities... Whats your take on it, what "deep physical quality" are we measuring when we measure temperature (of a gas)? Molecular Thermodynamics, will do.

Cheers guys, I am familiar (not intimately) with the concept of specific heat capacity, and that to accurately describe the total internal energy of a system, in this case, a volume of gas, you have to account for all the degrees of freedom, translational, vibrational and rotational. But "heat"...

I posed this thought experiment elsewhere, so the tone may seem a bit odd. It's based on what I've been reading on physical chemistry, atmospheric radiation and thermal physics. Just wondering if my interpretation is on the money or if I've made any incorrect assumptions. "Time for another...

Have I framed my question incorrectly? Or gravely misunderstood something?

Sorry, I should have added, the gas isn't an ideal gas, it's air!

I understand that CO2 molecules absorb infrared at 2.7, 4.3 and 15 microns, this makes them become vibrationally excited (rocking, stretching, bending, I don't know all the modes). I have a few questions from this point: 1. When the CO2 molecule re-emits that energy is it obliged to do so...