Temperature is not heat When we measure the temperature of a gas, well measure say 1 mol at 25C and 1atm.

This is not a measurement of the properties of an individual particle, it is the macroscopic average of many particles. To put it into perspective, there are 8 times more atoms of gas in a mole than there are grains of sand on every !each on "arth added together. #n $uantum mechanics, each of those particles has an associated wave function, which determines the pro!a!ility of it !eing in any location and its velocity, whereas loo%ing at things more classically, we have a thermometer and a !o& of stuff all together, from which we are to calculate the different thermodynamic varia!les. 'ost people understand temperature to !e a measure of heat, !ecause heat flows from higher temperatures to lower temperatures, however this is false. Temperature is a !asically a measure of (hotness), heat is a form of energy that contri!utes to the value of temperature, !ut unli%e temperature, is not an intrinsic property of everyday matter. Temperature is often called average %inetic energy, now this is also false, unless the su!stance that youre measuring is a monatomic ideal gas at room temperature *"% + 1.5%T, where % is the ,olt-mann constant.. #n our thermodyamics module, weve seen that $uantities are often measured indirectly, that is, !y measuring another $uantity that is easier/cheaper/simpler/whatever to measure. This is the case with temperature. The pressure of a gas could !e measured at constant volume, or with the volume at constant pressure, each one !eing allowed to vary is an e&ample of a thermometric varia!le in each circumstance. This is made so !y the various relationships !etween the different thermodynamic varia!les, temperature, pressure, volume, amount, energy0 #ts easy to get lost in the 1argon, !ut the principle is that you will o!tain the same value, whether measured directly or not. This definition only ta%es account of translational %inetic energy, which # guess is generally the energy transferred during collisions, !ut, an a!solute value of %inetic energy would have to contain terms to descri!e the rotational and vi!rational energies of molecules, along with every other degree of freedom. 2or e&ample, if you were to try to measure the specific heat capacity you would see a 1ump at T + 1 3 and another at T + 1 3, this is due to the rotational and vi!rational modes respectively, !eing e&cited. 2or e&ample, the translational degrees of freedom get e&cited at very low temperatures, whereas say with the diatomic Chlorine molecule, vi!rational types re$uire energy at the level of infrared radiation, or a temperature of a!out 8 3, so these types would not !e e&cited at room temperature where most measurements of specific heat would occur. This graph shows the specific heat of an ar!itrary gas, measured at constant volume, at a range of temperatures. "ach molecule is a $uantum particle. #t has discrete energy states, and must accept *or radiate. the discrete difference in energy !etween two states in one hit ma%e the 1ump4 there are no (im!etween) states. The difference !etween two vi!rational states is very large, which means they will generally only !e e&cited when a very fast *hot. particle or a high energy *infrared up. photon interacts with it, giving it the 5o # hope this clears things up a !it, # have tried to show how temperature is not as simple as to difference, such particles or photons would e&ist at higher temperatures than !e e$uated to heat, there are more fundamental concepts 25C that define it. *5uch as the partial differential of energy with respect to entropy at constant volume..