How is kenetic energy related to teampeture?

Answer 1

Kinetic energy is the speed of atoms moving back and forth, the faster they move back and forth the higher the temperature, and the slower they move the lower the temperature. So, the higher the temperature the higher the kinetic energy and the lower the temperature the lower the kinetic energy.

Answer 2

Temperature is the average kinetic energy on the molecular or atomic scale.

From Rafaelrz.

The Thermal Energy of gases is given by the sum of the molecules kinetic,

rotational, vibrational and electronic energies.At a given temperature the gas molecules do not have a fixed amount of the mentioned energies. You'll find molecules with different amounts of energies, giving rise to a whole distribution of energy levels of the molecules. These distributions of energy are unique for a given

temperature for a given gas. If we discuss the Ideal Gas, its molecules have only

kinetic energy, and just one energy distribution for a given temperature.

Liquid molecules have also these energies but in lower degrees especially kinetic energy. Molecules of solids have no kinetic nor rotational energies.

So you see then, Thermal Energy is kind of chaotic.

Temperature is defined in function of the concept of Thermal Equilibrium.

'When two isolated bodies are put in contact and no change in properties of the bodies are observed, then we say the two bodies are in Thermal Equilibrium.

The property they have in common is called Temperature.'

If the bodies above mentioned show a change in properties after being put in contact, then we say they were not in Thermal Equilibrium and so they did not

have the same Temperature. A flow of Thermal Energy is responsible for the

changes observed. This energy will flow from the body with the higher temperature

to the body of the original low temperature, and so difference in temperature between two bodies becomes a difference in potential for heat transfer.

Now, it is true that for a given substance higher temperature means higher thermal energy per unit mass. But for two different substances, equal Temperaturewill not mean equal thermal energy per unit mass. This is because

they have different Specific Heat Capacities ( a property given in units of energy over unit of mass x unit of temperature ) and different Thermal Energy content at a standard ( or reference ) temperature.

An important observation to make is that Temperature and Energy are two different dimensions.

At the end, Temperature is related to the molecules energies.

A last important characteristic of Temperature, is that it is a property that describes a system in equilibrium state showing molecular energy distributions.

This makes 'Temperature' a statistical entity. That's why it is a Macroscopic Property like Pressure. They only apply to systems of very large number of molecules.

When a single particle is associated with a Temperature, its energies have been

compared with the average energy values of a macroscopic system of such particles, but it can not be compared in behaviour to the macroscopic system.