Maxwell speed distribution

The probability that the speed of a molecule of mass m lies in the range v to v+dv is given by

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle P(v)dv = 4 \pi v^2 dv \left( \frac{m}{2 \pi k_B T} \right)^{3/2} \exp (-mv^2/2k_B T) }

where T is the temperature and Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle k_B} is the Boltzmann constant. The maximum of this distribution is located at

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle v_{\rm max} = \sqrt{\frac{2k_BT}{m}}}

The mean speed is given by

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \overline{v} = \frac{2}{\sqrt \pi} v_{\rm max}}

and the root-mean-square speed by

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle v_{\rm rms} = \sqrt \frac{3}{2} v_{\rm max}}

References

1. J. C. Maxwell "", British Association for the Advancement of Science 29 Notices and Abstracts 9 (1859)
2. J. C. Maxwell "", Philosophical Magazine 19 pp. 19 (1860)
3. J. C. Maxwell "", Philosophical Magazine 20 pp. 21 (1860)
4. J. Clerk Maxwell "On the Dynamical Theory of Gases", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 157 pp. 49-88 (1867)
5. J. S. Rowlinson "The Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution", Molecular Physics 103 pp. 2821 - 2828 (2005)