Introduction

This part is a continuation and extension of Part III and is based on the implementation of the methods presented in the previous parts. In Chap. 1 the subject of ideal gases of molecules devoid of internal structure, analyzed in Part III, is extended to deal with diatomic molecules. We learn how to take into account the internal structure of the molecules, and its effects on the properties of the gases. We shall dwell upon the heat capacity problem which we encountered in Part I and resolve it here at last…