Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution

In physics, a statistical equation describing the distribution of velocities among the molecules of a gas. It is named after Scottish physicist James Maxwell and Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann, who derived the equation, independently of each other, in the 1860s.

One form of the distribution is n = Nexp(–E/RT), where N is the total number of molecules, n is the number of molecules with energy in excess of E, T is the absolute temperature (temperature in kelvin), R is the gas constant, and exp is the exponential function.