In Section 2.5 I quoted a theorem on the multiplicity of any system with only quadratic degrees of freedom: In the high-temperature limit where the number of units of energy is much larger than the number of degrees of freedom, the multiplicity of any such system is proportional to UNf/2, whereNf is the total number of degrees of freedom. Find an expression for the energy of such a system in terms of its temperature, and comment on the result. How can you tell that this formula forΩ cannot be valid when the total energy is very small?

Short Answer

Expert verified

The required expression isU=f2NkT.

Step by step solution

01

Given

It is given that,

ΩUNf2,

where,

Nfis the total number of degrees of freedom

Expression for multiplicity that is given as:

Ω=VN(2πmU)3N2h3NN!3N2!

And for Einstein solid in the high temperature limit expression for multiplicity is given as:

ΩqeNN

Here, Nis number of oscillator in solid, qis number of energy unit.

02

Calculation

Mathematically, temperature can be defined as:

1T=SU..........(1)

Where,

Sis the change in entropy and Uis the change in the internal energy of the body.

The given system has two quadratic terms in its energy. One is potential energy 12kx2and another one is kinetic energy term 12mv2. Each of this is interpreted as degree of freedom.

So, multiplicity is written as:

localid="1646989414665" ΩUNf2Ω=AUNF2

Here, Ais constant of proportionality.

Now, Entropy is given by

S=klnΩ

Where, kis Boltzmann constant and Ωis multiplicity.

By substituting the value of Ωin the above, we get,

S=klnAUNf2

But we know that,

lnab=bln(a),lnab=ln(a)-ln(b)and lnab=bln(a)

Hence,

S=kln(A)+Nfk2lnU

Now, by substituting this value of Sin the equation (1), we get,

localid="1646990034822" 1T=SU=Ukln(A)+Nfk2lnU1T=Nfk2UT=2UNfk

By rearranging the terms, we get,

U=f2NkT

03

Final answer

Hence, the required expression for the energy of the given system in terms of its temperature isU=f2NkT.

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