4 ms·

At the level of particles, isn't "heating" the same as speeding up?

• ijustlovemath 2y ago
  Yes! I was pointing out that particles typically lose energy to collision with the environment, not gain it (as the OP implied)
  • topherclay 2y ago
    OP was suggesting a way to artificially control the temperature, so they would artificially add energy to raise temperature.
    • programjames 2y ago
      Nah, the goal isn't to add or subtract energy, just change the entropy. If you have a process that on average doesn't change energy, but makes the distribution of speeds more or less narrow, then that is temperature control. I thought adding a fixed amount of momentum in a random direction (where higher temperature = more momentum) would be a way to control temperature. However, that actually increases energy on average, so you would need some way to lose energy to the environment as @ijustlovemath pointed out.