VII. On stresses in rarified gases arising from inequalities of temperature

Abstract

1. In this paper I have followed the method given in my paper “On the Dynamical Theory of Gases” (Phil. Trans., 1867, p. 49). I have shown that when inequalities of temperature exist in a gas, the pressure at a given point is not the same in all directions, and that the difference between the maximum and the minimum pressure at a point may be of considerable magnitude when the density of the gas is small enough, and when the inequalities of temperature are produced by small solid bodies at a higher or lower temperature than the vessel containing the gas. 2. The nature of this stress may be thus defined:— Let the distance from a given point, measured in a given direction, be denoted by h; then the space-variation of the temperature for a point moving along this line will be denoted by dθ/dh, and the spaced variation of this quantity along the same line by d2θ/dh2.