Concept
Version 12
Created by Boundless
Specific Heat for an Ideal Gas at Constant Pressure and Volume
Molecular internal vibrations
When a gas is heated, translational kientic energy of molecules in the gas will increase. In addition, molecules in the gas may pick up many characteristic internal vibrations. Potential energy stored in these internal degrees of freedom contributes to specific heat of the gas.
Source
Boundless vets and curates high-quality, openly licensed content from around the Internet. This particular resource used the following sources:
"Thermally Agitated Molecule."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thermally_Agitated_Molecule.gif
Wikipedia
CC BY-SA.