Components involved in degrees of freedom?

[kaminski1110]

Hi,

I'm a total layperson, haven't taken a physics class since AP in high school. Trying to figure some stuff out for some writing I'm doing (poetry, bizarrely enough). So excuse if this question is super-simple or if the terms of the question are nonsensical somehow.

"Degree of freedom" in particle physics -- does it refer to translational and rotational movement of a particle (thus, 6 degrees in 3 dimensions) OR to the particle's position and velocity, as implied in this quote from the wikipedia page on equipartitional theorem: "...any degree of freedom (such as a component of the position or velocity of a particle)" ?

Any clarification is welcome!

ALSO sorry if this isn't in the right section, I think it should be under particle physics but maybe it should be under physics for dummies or something ;)

 

[Bill_K]

Degrees of freedom is a rather generic term meaning "number of independent variables relevant to the problem."

It could include the position, if you're doing a static arrangement of things where position was one of the dominant factors. More typically in thermodynamics it represents the number of available independent motions, e.g. velocity components, where each one of them makes a contribution to the kinetic energy. Note that the number of degrees of freedom of a system can increase as the temperature is raised, as for example when a molecule acquires the ability to rotate or vibrate.