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- What is the physical interpretation of temperature of a mass of liquid or a solid?
Usually, the mental image of temperature is: an internal property of a bulk of matter, which typically describes the average kinetic plus rotation/vibration energy of molecules, so we imagine a gas in which temperature is a measure of how quick molecules are, and how frequently they collide one to another. The higher the temperature, the more energy of molecules.
Let's switch to a liquid at room temperature (water) or a crystalline solid (a bar of pure iron). How would you define their temperature? Would it for example be a measure of the average energy of the "electron gas" in the conduction band? What about liquid water, which lacks a rigid crystalline structure, being just a scattter of molecules kept together with vdW forces and "hydrogen bonds"?
Let's switch to a liquid at room temperature (water) or a crystalline solid (a bar of pure iron). How would you define their temperature? Would it for example be a measure of the average energy of the "electron gas" in the conduction band? What about liquid water, which lacks a rigid crystalline structure, being just a scattter of molecules kept together with vdW forces and "hydrogen bonds"?