How are temperature and average kinetic energy related? Explain.

Explanation:

Suppose you have a box filled with all sorts of molecules that won't react with each other.

Suppose further that these molecules move. What formula are they obeying? the answer is Ke = 1/2 m  v^2.

Now the mass is not going to change, but what about v, the velocity. It certainly can change.

Suppose further, that the molecules are in a closed container. Suppose that the box is heated up. What will happen? The molecules can't escape. All they can do is move faster (remember that they are trapped inside the box). Their mass won't change.

So if you put a thermometer inside a cork into a whole where the cork will seal the hole, what will the thermometer record. Those fast moving molecules will hit the thermometer and make the molecules of the thermometer move faster. The liquid inside the thermometer will measure the Ke of the molecules. So temperature is related to Ke.

The more heat, the faster the molecules are moving. The more they move, the more Ke is being transferred to the thermometer. The more heat transferred to the thermometer, the more the liqiuid in the thermometer will expand, and the higher the temperature.

So shortly temperature is the measurement of Ke inside the closed container that is filled with gas molecules.