The Virial Theorem: Its Explanation, Proof, Application and Limitations

applet-magic.comThayer Watkins Silicon Valley & Tornado Alley USA

The Virial Theorem is an important theorem in mechanics. There are various corollaries of the theorem which are sometimes also labeled the Virial Theorem. Those corollaries will be dealt with in due course. In the material below the variables which are vectors will be displayed in red.

Consider a system of n point particles indexed by i. Let r_i, v_i and p_i be the position, velocity and momentum vectors, respectively, for the i-th particle. Its mass is denoted as m_i. Let F_i be the net force, internal and external, impinging upon the i-th particle.

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