the monatomic gas can only store energy as kinetic energy of the atoms, whereas the solid can store it also as potential energy of the bonds strained by the vibrations. The atom-molar heat capacity of a polyatomic gas approaches that of a solid as the number n of atoms per molecule increases. As in the case f gases, some of the vibration modes will be "frozen out" at low temperatures, especially in solids with light and tightly bound atoms, causing the atom-molar heat capacity to be less than this theoretical limit. Indeed, the atom-molar (or specific) heat capacity of a solid substance tends toward zero, as the temperature approaches absolute zero. Dulong–Petit law As predicted by the above analysis, the heat capacity per mole of atoms, rather than per mole of molecules, is found to be remarkably constant for all solid substances at high temperatures. This relationship was noticed empirically in 1819, and is called the Dulong–Petit law, after its two discoverers. This discovery was an important argument in support of the atomic theory of matter. Indeed, for solid metallic chemical elements at room temperature, atom-molar heat capacities range from about 2.8 R to 3.4 R. Large exceptions at the lower end involve solids composed of relatively low-mass, tightly bonded atoms, such as beryllium (2.0 R, only of 66% of the theoretical value), and diamond (0.735 R, only 24%). Those conditions imply larger quantum vibrational energy spacing, thus many vibrational modes are "frozen out" at room temperature. Water ice close to the melting point, too, has an anomalously low heat capacity per atom (1.5 R, only 50% of the theoretical value). At the higher end of possible heat capacities, heat capacity may exceed R by modest amounts, due to contributions from anharmonic vibrations in solids, and sometimes a modest contribution from conduction electrons in metals. These are not degrees of freedom treated in the Einstein or Debye theories. Specific heat of solid elements Since the bulk density of a solid chemical element is strongly related to its molar mass, there exists a noticeable inverse correlation between a solid's density and its specific heat capacity on a per-mass basis. This is due to a very approximate tendency of atoms of most elements to be about the same size, despite much wider variations in density and atomic weight. These two factors (constancy of atomic volume and constancy of mole-specific heat capacity) result