Skip to main content

Maxwell-Boltzmann Speed Distribution

This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.

State

At a fixed temperature, a gas sample's molecular speeds spread across a range, peaking at a most-probable speed, the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.

Show

Raising the temperature shifts this distribution toward higher speeds and flattens its peak.

Watch for

Not every molecule moves at the average speed — the distribution's whole shape, not one number, describes the gas.

Builds on

Unlocks

  • Nothing yet depends on this.