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.

Short Answer

Expert verified

The simple expression forσN in terms ofN¯isσN=kTNμ.

Step by step solution

01

Given Information 

We have to given the average number of particles in the system isN=kTZZμ, the mean square number of particles is N2¯=(kT)2Z2Zμ2and the standard deviation of NisσN=kTN/μ.

02

Simplify

The grand partition function equals the sum over the Gibbs factors, that is:

Z=seEsμNs/kT

take the partial derivative of the partition function with respect to , so :

Zμ=1kTsNseEsμNs/kTsNseEsμNs/kT=kTZμ

dividing both sides by the grand partition function to get:

1ZsNseEsμNs/kT=kTZZμ

the LHS is just the average N, so:

localid="1650885600621" N=kTZZμ ...(1)

take the partial derivative again for the grand partition function with respect toμ, to get:

localid="1650885614351" 2Zμ2=1k2T2s(Ns)2eEsμNs/kTs(Ns)2eEsμNs/kT=k2T22Zμ2

03

Calculation

Dividing both sides by the grand partition function to get:

1Zs(Ns)2eEsμNs/kT=k2T2Z2Zμ2

the LHS is just the average N2, therefore:

localid="1650885704869" N2=k2T2Z2Zμ2 ...(2)

take the partial derivative for the average number of particles with respect to μto get:

localid="1650885695468" role="math" Nμ=μ1ZsNseEsμNs/kTNμ=1Z2ZμsNseEsμNs/kT+1ZkTs(Ns)2eEsμNs/kT

substitute from (1) and (2) to get:

Nμ=NkTN+N2kTNμ=N2kT+N2kTkTNμ=N2N2

the standard deviation is defined as:

σN2=N2N2

combine this equation with the previous one to get:

σN2=kTNμσN=kTNμ

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Use the results of this section to estimate the contribution of conduction electrons to the heat capacity of one mole of copper at room temperature. How does this contribution compare to that of lattice vibrations, assuming that these are not frozen out? (The electronic contribution has been measured at low temperatures, and turns out to be about40% more than predicted by the free electron model used here.)

For a system of particles at room temperature, how large must ϵ-μbe before the Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein, and Boltzmann distributions agree within 1%? Is this condition ever violated for the gases in our atmosphere? Explain.

Consider a system consisting of a single impurity atom/ion in a semiconductor. Suppose that the impurity atom has one "extra" electron compared to the neighboring atoms, as would a phosphorus atom occupying a lattice site in a silicon crystal. The extra electron is then easily removed, leaving behind a positively charged ion. The ionized electron is called a conduction electron because it is free to move through the material; the impurity atom is called a donor, because it can "donate" a conduction electron. This system is analogous to the hydrogen atom considered in the previous two problems except that the ionization energy is much less, mainly due to the screening of the ionic charge by the dielectric behavior of the medium.

(a) Write down a formula for the probability of a single donor atom being ionized. Do not neglect the fact that the electron, if present, can have two independent spin states. Express your formula in terms of the temperature, the ionization energy I, and the chemical potential of the "gas" of ionized electrons.

(b) Assuming that the conduction electrons behave like an ordinary ideal gas (with two spin states per particle), write their chemical potential in terms of the number of conduction electrons per unit volume,NcV.

(c) Now assume that every conduction electron comes from an ionized donor atom. In this case the number of conduction electrons is equal to the number of donors that are ionized. Use this condition to derive a quadratic equation for Ncin terms of the number of donor atoms Nd, eliminatingµ. Solve for Ncusing the quadratic formula. (Hint: It's helpful to introduce some abbreviations for dimensionless quantities. Tryx=NcNd,t=kTland so on.)

(d) For phosphorus in silicon, the ionization energy is localid="1650039340485" 0.044eV. Suppose that there are 1017patoms per cubic centimeter. Using these numbers, calculate and plot the fraction of ionized donors as a function of temperature. Discuss the results.

Consider a degenerate electron gas in which essentially all of the electrons are highly relativistic ϵmc2so that their energies are ϵ=pc(where p is the magnitude of the momentum vector).

(a) Modify the derivation given above to show that for a relativistic electron gas at zero temperature, the chemical potential (or Fermi energy) is given by =

μ=hc(3N/8πV)1/3

(b) Find a formula for the total energy of this system in terms of N and μ.

The sun is the only star whose size we can easily measure directly; astronomers therefore estimate the sizes of other stars using Stefan's law.

(a) The spectrum of Sirius A, plotted as a function of energy, peaks at a photon energy of2.4eV, while Sirius A is approximately 24times as luminous as the sun. How does the radius of Sirius A compare to the sun's radius?

(b) Sirius B, the companion of Sirius A (see Figure 7.12), is only role="math" localid="1647765883396" 3%as luminous as the sun. Its spectrum, plotted as a function of energy, peaks at about7eV. How does its radius compare to that of the sun?

(c) The spectrum of the star Betelgeuse, plotted as a function of energy, peaks at a photon energy of 0.8eV, while Betelgeuse is approximately10,000times as luminous as the sun. How does the radius of Betelgeuse compare to the sun's radius? Why is Betelgeuse called a "red supergiant"?

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