Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 2 36A a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
In the canonical ensemble, a one-particle velocity state has kinetic energy and hence probability density proportional to , where . The three Cartesian Gaussian integrals normalize the density to the Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distributionIntegrating over a spherical shell of radius and area gives the Maxwell speed distributionSinceits unique positive maximum is the most probable speed in the Maxwell distribution