The randomized, or thermal, energy of particles such as atoms and molecules gives a substance its temperature. For ideal monatomic gases this means kinetic energy from translations. Here, the size of helium atoms relative to their spacing is shown to scale under 136 atmospheres of pressure. These room-temperature atoms have a certain, average speed (slowed down here two trillion fold). At any given instant however, a particular helium atom may be moving much faster than average while another may be nearly motionless. Five atoms are colored red to facilitate following their motions.

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The randomized, or thermal, energy of particles such as atoms and molecules gives a substance its temperature. For ideal monatomic gases this means kinetic energy from translations. Here, the size of helium atoms relative to their spacing is shown to scale under 136 atmospheres of pressure. These room-temperature atoms have a certain, average speed (slowed down here two trillion fold). At any given instant however, a particular helium atom may be moving much faster than average while another may be nearly motionless. Five atoms are colored red to facilitate following their motions.