The article is based on a previous suggestion by the author to introduce a
new temperature scale - named after the German physicist Boltzmann. The pro
position is repeated in short, then some practical consequencies are demons
trated. The ideal gas law will take on a simpler form and the molar heat ca
pacities will turn into dimensionless quantities. The universal gas constan
t and the Boltzmann constant are shown to be superfluous conversion factors
. It is further demonstrated how an empirical scale for the Boltzmann tempe
rature can be established and how dimensional analysis can be performed.
Some examples from statistical mechanics show that the Boltzmann temperatur
e is well suited when deducing the basic relations in this field. It is emp
hasized that the proposition does not affect the theory of thermodynamics,
it only draws conclusions from well known facts.
In traditional thermodynamics the so-called barometric equation is taken to
actually measure the Boltzmann constant. Such measurement has no meaning i
n the Boltzmann temperature idiom, the result of the measurement is in this
notion the Loschmidt (Avogadro) number. The molar entropy becomes a pure,
dimensionless number, a property which corresponds well to the real nature
of entropy. The relation to the thermodynamic probability of a state is est
ablished, and a different form of the Boltzmann equation S = k ln W is give
n.