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Statistical Mechanics 1. Consider a solid to be a collection of a very large number, N , of non-interacting three-dimensional isotropic harmonic normal mode oscillators arranged on a regular cubic lattice with temperature T . a. Calculate the average energy of each one mode of vibration. b. Determine the specic heat C in the high-temperature limit. c. Determine the specic heat C in the low-temperature limit. d. Sketch the function C = C(T ).
2. For Plancks law of radiation, consider the photons inside a cubic box with length L on each side, volume V = L3 and at temperature T . a. Show that the number of standing waves with the magnitude of the wave-vector between k and k + dk is Ck 2 dk. What is the value of C? b. Using Bose-Einstein statistics, what is the number of photons with energy between and + d ?
E c. How would you arrive at the Plancks law of radiation V = 0 (, T )d where E is const.3 the total photon energy inside the box and = eh/kT 1 is the energy density at the frequency . (It is not necessary to evaluate the constant.)
E V
3. The partition function of an ideal gas of molecules in a volume V can be written in the 1 form Z = N ! (V )N where V is the partition function for a single molecule (involving the kinetic energy plus internal energy if it is not monoatomic) and depends only on absolute temperature T . When the molecules are condensed so as to form a liquid, the crudest approximation consists of treating the liquid as if the molecules still formed a gas of molecules moving independently, provided that (1) each molecule is assumed to have a constant potential energy due to its average interaction with the rest of the molecules, and (2) each molecule is assumed to be free to move throughout the total volume N v0 , where v0 is the (constant) volume per molecule in the liquid phase. With these assumptions, write down a. The partition function for a liquid consisting of N molecules; b. The chemical potential g for Ng molecules of the vapor in volume Vg at temperature T . Treat it as an ideal gas; c. The chemical potential for N molecules of a liquid at the temperature T . d. By equating the chemical potentials, nd an expression relating the vapor pressure at the temperature T where the gas is in equilibrium with the liquid. e. Calculate the molar entropy dierence between gas and liquid in equilibrium at the same temperature and pressure by using the Clausius-Clapeyron relation. 4. Consider an ideal gas of N electrons in a volume V at absolute zero. There are V /8 3 translational states per unit volume of k-space. a. Show that the Fermi energy at T = 0 is given by
F
N h 2 3 2 = 2m V
2/3
b. Show that the number of translational states ( )d for which the energy lies between and + d is given by ( )d = V (2m)3/2 4 2 3 h
1/2
d .
F.
c. Find the total mean energy E of this gas in terms of the Fermi energy
d. Show that for a xed volume V , E is not proportional to the number of particles, N , in the container. How do you account for this result despite the fact that there is no interactions potential between the particles?. e. Find the approximate pressure exerted by the conduction electrons in copper, on the solid lattice which connes them within the volume of the metal. Express your answer in atmospheres. (Recall: In metals, all energy levels up to a the Fermi energy are lled. Number of electrons per unit volume = 8.41028 electron/m3 ; h = 1.051034 Js; me = 9.111031 kg.) 2