At the center of the sun, the temperature is approximately 107K and the concentration of electrons is approximately 1032 per cubic meter. Would it be (approximately) valid to treat these electrons as a "classical" ideal gas (using Boltzmann statistics), or as a degenerate Fermi gas (with T0 ), or neither?

Short Answer

Expert verified

The gas cannot be treated as degenerate at T=0, and ordinary classical ideal gas at TTF because the temperature T is not much less than or greater than TF.

Step by step solution

01

Step 1. Given Information 

We are given that the temperature at the centre of the sun is approximately 107Kand the concentration of electrons is approximately 1032per cubic meter.

02

Step 2. Finding fermi temperature

Calculating the fermi temperature for the electron gas at the center of the Sun to check if the given statement is correct or not.

The Fermi temperature for the electron gas at the center of the Sun is given by,

TF=EFk

The fermi energy of electrons can be expressed in terms of free electron density as follows,

εF=h28me3NπV23

03

Step 3. Finding fermi temperature

Putting the values, we get

TF=1kh28me3NπV23TF=6.63×10-34J·s21.38×10-23J/K(8)9.1×10-31kg31032m-3π23=9.1×106K

The Fermi temperature is of the same order of magnitude as the temperature of the Sun 107K.

04

Step 4. About the Statement

Here, the temperature T is not much less than or greater than TF. Hence, the approximation is not very accurate.

Due to this reason, the gas cannot be treated as degenerate at T=0, and ordinary classical ideal gas at TTF.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

The argument given above for why CvTdoes not depend on the details of the energy levels available to the fermions, so it should also apply to the model considered in Problem 7.16: a gas of fermions trapped in such a way that the energy levels are evenly spaced and non-degenerate.

(a) Show that, in this model, the number of possible system states for a given value of q is equal to the number of distinct ways of writing q as a sum of positive integers. (For example, there are three system states for q = 3, corresponding to the sums 3, 2 + 1, and 1 + 1 + 1. Note that 2 + 1 and 1 + 2 are not counted separately.) This combinatorial function is called the number of unrestricted partitions of q, denoted p(q). For example, p(3) = 3.

(b) By enumerating the partitions explicitly, compute p(7) and p(8).

(c) Make a table of p(q) for values of q up to 100, by either looking up the values in a mathematical reference book, or using a software package that can compute them, or writing your own program to compute them. From this table, compute the entropy, temperature, and heat capacity of this system, using the same methods as in Section 3.3. Plot the heat capacity as a function of temperature, and note that it is approximately linear.

(d) Ramanujan and Hardy (two famous mathematicians) have shown that when q is large, the number of unrestricted partitions of q is given approximately by

p(q)eπ2q343q

Check the accuracy of this formula for q = 10 and for q = 100. Working in this approximation, calculate the entropy, temperature, and heat capacity of this system. Express the heat. capacity as a series in decreasing powers of kT/η, assuming that this ratio is large and keeping the two largest terms. Compare to the numerical results you obtained in part (c). Why is the heat capacity of this system independent of N, unlike that of the three dimensional box of fermions discussed in the text?

Evaluate the integral in equation N=2π2πmh23/2V0ϵdϵeϵ/kT-1numerically, to confirm the value quoted in the text.

Show that when a system is in thermal and diffusive equilibrium with a reservoir, the average number of particles in the system is

N=kTZZμ

where the partial derivative is taken at fixed temperature and volume. Show also that the mean square number of particles is

N2¯=(kT)2Z2Zμ2

Use these results to show that the standard deviation of Nis

σN=kTN/μ,

in analogy with Problem6.18Finally, apply this formula to an ideal gas, to obtain a simple expression forσNin terms ofN¯Discuss your result briefly.

Starting from the formula for CV derived in Problem 7.70(b), calculate the entropy, Helmholtz free energy, and pressure of a Bose gas for T<Tc. Notice that the pressure is independent of volume; how can this be the case?

In analogy with the previous problem, consider a system of identical spin0bosonstrapped in a region where the energy levels are evenly spaced. Assume that Nis a large number, and again let qbe the number of energy units.

(a) Draw diagrams representing all allowed system states from q=0up to q=6.Instead of using dots as in the previous problem, use numbers to indicate the number of bosons occupying each level.

(b) Compute the occupancy of each energy level, for q=6. Draw a graph of the occupancy as a function of the energy at each level.

(c) Estimate values of μand Tthat you would have to plug into the Bose-Einstein distribution to best fit the graph of part(b).

(d) As in part (d) of the previous problem, draw a graph of entropy vs energy and estimate the temperature at q=6from this graph.

See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Physics Textbooks

View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free