system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why does the product of the gas constant and temperature (RT) show up everywhere in kinetics and thermodynamics calculations?
gpt
The gas constant is essentially the Boltzman constant (*k*) but expressed in a more convenient way (in terms of energy per temp per mole). Moles are much easier to work with in a lot of cases. 

The product *K*T shows use everywhere in thermodynamics because it represents a scale factor by which the energy of molecular systems pertain to. A direct example of this is the fact that the energy values in the Boltzman factor are scaled by *K*T: exp(-ΔE/*k*T). A clearer example is the fact that an atom in an ideal monotomic gas has kinetic energy: E = (3/2)*k*T. Each translational degree of freedom is equal to (1/2)*k*T.