Thermal physics in the data age -- students judge the applicability of the equipartition theorem

Abstract

Providing students of introductory thermal physics with a plot of the heat capacities of many low density gases as a function of temperature allows them to look for systematic trends. Specifically, large amounts of heat capacity data allow students to discover the equipartition theorem, but also point to its limited applicability. Computer code to download and plot the temperature-dependent heat capacity data is provided.