Thermal energy
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The term "thermal energy" is often used ambiguously in physics and engineering. It can denote several different physical concepts, including:
Thermal radiation in visible light can be seen on this hot metalwork, due to blackbody radiation.
Boltzmann constant
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The Boltzmann constant is the proportionality factor that relates the average relative thermal energy of particles in a gas with the thermodynamic temperature of the gas. It occurs in the definitions
Thermal energy
…by mechanisms other than thermodynamic work and transfer of matter. The characteristic energy kBT, where T denotes temperature and kB denotes the Boltzmann constant; it is twice that associated with each degree of freedom. Mark Zemansky (1970) has argued that the term "thermal energy" is best avoided due to its…
Ludwig Boltzmann, the constant's namesake
Max Planck, who discovered and named the constant
Boltzmann's grave in the Zentralfriedhof, Vienna, with bust and entropy formula.