Lecture 5: Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution

[@hershyfishman2929]

How is the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution consistant with the velocity distribution? How can there be a high probability of having a near zero velocity (vector), but a low probability of having a near zero speed (magnitude of the vector)?

[@vincentmeunier7873]

Excellent question. One way to look at it: the distribution is a product of both the probability of a given velocity AND the number of states that can have that probability. So, even if a low velocity is high probability, there are very few (in fact just one!) state with zero velocity vector. Thus, it is very small.

[@AtlanticSailorLP]

thanks for the video! really cleared things up for me. do you have any good refrenceses if i wan't some more reading material?

[@farooq8897]

Blundell's textbook..

[@deeproll4323]

WHY DOES THE AREA OF THE MAXWELL- BOLTZMANN VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION CURVE ALWAYS REMAIN EQUAL TO UNITY ?

[@vincentmeunier7873]

Because the area corresponds to the total probability, which should be one