Thermal physics in the data age -- students judge the applicability of the equipartition theorem

TL;DR

This paper introduces an educational approach using heat capacity data plots to help students discover the equipartition theorem and understand its limitations in thermal physics.

Contribution

It provides a method and computer code for students to analyze heat capacity data, facilitating active learning of the equipartition theorem's applicability.

Findings

Students can identify trends in heat capacities of gases.

The method reveals the limits of the equipartition theorem.

Educational tool enhances understanding of thermal physics concepts.

Abstract

Providing students of introductory thermal physics with a plot of the heat capacities of many low density gases as a function of temperature allows them to look for systematic trends. Specifically, large amounts of heat capacity data allow students to discover the equipartition theorem, but also point to its limited applicability. Computer code to download and plot the temperature-dependent heat capacity data is provided.