Activities
These notes from the fifth week of https://paradigms.oregonstate.edu/courses/ph441 cover the grand canonical ensemble. They include several small group activities.
These notes from the fourth week of https://paradigms.oregonstate.edu/courses/ph441 cover blackbody radiation and the Planck distribution. They include a number of small group activities.
Let us imagine a new mechanics in which the allowed occupancies of an orbital are 0, 1, and 2. The values of the energy associated with these occupancies are assumed to be \(0\), \(\varepsilon\), and \(2\varepsilon\), respectively.
Derive an expression for the ensemble average occupancy \(\langle N\rangle\), when the system composed of this orbital is in thermal and diffusive contact with a resevoir at temperature \(T\) and chemical potential \(\mu\).
Return now to the usual quantum mechanics, and derive an expression for the ensemble average occupancy of an energy level which is doubly degenerate; that is, two orbitals have the identical energy \(\varepsilon\). If both orbitals are occupied the toal energy is \(2\varepsilon\). How does this differ from part (a)?
These lecture notes for the first week of https://paradigms.oregonstate.edu/courses/ph441 include a couple of small group activities in which students work with the Gibbs formulation of the entropy.
Problem
Consider two noninteracting systems \(A\) and \(B\). We can either treat these systems as separate, or as a single combined system \(AB\). We can enumerate all states of the combined by enumerating all states of each separate system. The probability of the combined state \((i_A,j_B)\) is given by \(P_{ij}^{AB} = P_i^AP_j^B\). In other words, the probabilities combine in the same way as two dice rolls would, or the probabilities of any other uncorrelated events.
- Show that the entropy of the combined system \(S_{AB}\) is the sum of entropies of the two separate systems considered individually, i.e. \(S_{AB} = S_A+S_B\). This means that entropy is extensive. Use the Gibbs entropy for this computation. You need make no approximation in solving this problem.
- Show that if you have \(N\) identical non-interacting systems, their total entropy is \(NS_1\) where \(S_1\) is the entropy of a single system.
Note
In real materials, we treat properties as being extensive even when there are interactions in the system. In this case, extensivity is a property of large systems, in which surface effects may be neglected.
Problem
Consider a system that may be unoccupied with energy zero, or occupied by one particle in either of two states, one of energy zero and one of energy \(\varepsilon\). Find the Gibbs sum for this system is in terms of the activity \(\lambda\equiv e^{\beta\mu}\). Note that the system can hold a maximum of one particle.
Solve for the thermal average occupancy of the system in terms of \(\lambda\).
Show that the thermal average occupancy of the state at energy \(\varepsilon\) is \begin{align} \langle N(\varepsilon)\rangle = \frac{\lambda e^{-\frac{\varepsilon}{kT}}}{\mathcal{Z}} \end{align}
Find an expression for the thermal average energy of the system.
Allow the possibility that the orbitals at \(0\) and at \(\varepsilon\) may each be occupied each by one particle at the same time; Show that \begin{align} \mathcal{Z} &= 1 + \lambda + \lambda e^{-\frac{\varepsilon}{kT}} + \lambda^2 e^{-\frac{\varepsilon}{kT}} \\ &= (1+\lambda)\left(1+e^{-\frac{\varepsilon}{kT}}\right) \end{align} Because \(\mathcal{Z}\) can be factored as shown, we have in effect two independent systems.
Problem
The Gibbs free energy, \(G\), is given by \begin{align*} G = U + pV - TS. \end{align*}
- Find the total differential of \(G\). As always, show your work.
- Interpret the coefficients of the total differential \(dG\) in order to find a derivative expression for the entropy \(S\).
- From the total differential \(dG\), obtain a different thermodynamic derivative that is equal to \[ \left(\frac{\partial {S}}{\partial {p}}\right)_{T} \]
None
Students use Mathematica to visualize the probability density distribution for the hydrogen atom orbitals with the option to vary the values of \(n\), \(\ell\), and \(m\).
This lecture is one step in motivating the form of the Planck distribution.
This small group activity has students reasoning about how the Planck distribution shifts when the temperature is doubled. This leads to a qualitative argument for the Stefan-Boltzmann law.
Students use a PhET to explore properties of the Planck distribution.