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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Paper, 'On some test cases for the Maxwell-Boltzmann doctrine regarding distribution of energy' by William Thomson

Reference number: PP/18/4

Date: 1891

Description

Thomson writes: 'Maxwell, in his article (‘Phil. Mag.,’ 1860) “On the Collision of Elastic Spheres,” enunciates a very remarkable theorem, of primary importance in the kinetic theory of gases, to the effect that, in an assemblage of large numbers of mutually colliding spheres of two or of several different magnitudes, the mean kinetic energy is the same for equal numbers of the spheres irrespectively of their masses and diameters; or, in other words, the time averages of the squares of the velocities of individual spheres are inversely as their masses.'

Annotations in pencil.

Subject: Physics

Received and read 11 June 1891.

A version of this paper was published in volume 50 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'On some test cases for the Maxwell-Boltzmann doctrine regarding distribution of energy'.

Reference number
PP/18/4
Earliest possible date
1891
Physical description
Graphite pencil on paper
Page extent
54 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

William Thomson

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Citation

William Thomson, Paper, 'On some test cases for the Maxwell-Boltzmann doctrine regarding distribution of energy' by William Thomson, 1891, PP/18/4, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pp_18_4/paper-on-some-test-cases-for-the-maxwell-boltzmann-doctrine-regarding-distribution-of-energy-by-william-thomson, accessed on 12 December 2024

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pp_18_4/paper-on-some-test-cases-for-the-maxwell-boltzmann-doctrine-regarding-distribution-of-energy-by-william-thomson

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  • Proceedings Papers

    Dates: 1882 - 1894

    The archival collection known as 'Proceedings Papers' is comprised of manuscripts and occasional proofs of scientific papers sent to the Royal Society which were read before meetings of Fellows and printed in full in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

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