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.

Short Answer

Expert verified

As far as gases in the atmosphere are concerned, the condition was never violated.

Step by step solution

01

Given Information 

The Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein and Boltzmann distribution lies within 1%of1.

02

Explanation

The quantum volume expression is:

vQ=h2πmkT3

h=Planck's constant,

m=mass of gas molecule,

k=gas constant

T=temperature

vQ=quantum volume.

The pressure of gas molecule will be denoted by,

P0=kTZinmeμ/TTv

Zint=partition function,

μ=chemical potential

P0=pressure at fixed temperature.

Substitute 2h2πmkT3for vQin above expression,

Rearrange the terms,

-μ/kT=lnkTZintP02πmkTh3..(1)

03

Explanation

The Bose-Einstein distribution's expression is:

n¯BE=1e(xμ)kT1

ε=energy at any state and

n¯BE=Bose-Einstein distribution.

The Fermi-Dirac distribution's expression is:

n¯FD=1e(k-μ)kT+1

n¯FDBose-Einstein distribution.

Equation (I) divided by equation (II) is:

n¯BEn¯FD=e(xμ)dT+1e(xμ)XT1=1+e(cμ)kT1e(cμ)kT1+2e(εμ)/kT

Here, (εμ)/kT1so, the above approximation is valid.

04

Explanation

Calculation:

The value of e-(ε-μ)/kTShould be less than 1/200for the ratio to be within 1%of 1 ; it means the value (ε-μ)/kT>ln200=5.3.

The value of εcannot be negative.

So, -μ/kTmust be greater than 5.3

Substitute localid="1651131552143" 1.38×10-23J/K=k

300K=T

4.65×1026kg=m

localid="1651131671206" 6.63×1034J.s

50=Zint

105Pa=Pin equation (I).

μ/kT=ln1.38×1023J/K(300K)(50)105Pa2π4.65×1026kg1.38×1023J/K(300K)6.63×1034Js3=ln3×108=ln3+8ln10=19.52

This indicates that the condition is valid since -mu/kTis greater than 5.3.

No violation of the condition occurred as far as atmospheric gases are concerned.

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

Although the integrals (7.53and 7.54) forNand Ucannot be

carried out analytically for all T, it's not difficult to evaluate them numerically

using a computer. This calculation has little relevance for electrons in metals (for

which the limit kT<<EFis always sufficient), but it is needed for liquid H3eand

for astrophysical systems like the electrons at the center of the sun.

(a) As a warm-up exercise, evaluate theNintegral (7.53) for the casekT=εF

and μ=0, and check that your answer is consistent with the graph shown

above. (Hint: As always when solving a problem on a computer, it's best to

first put everything in terms of dimensionless variables. So let t=kTεFrole="math" localid="1649996205331" ,c=μεF

, and x=εkT. Rewrite everything in terms of these variables,

and then put it on the computer.)

(b) The next step is to varyμ holdingT fixed, until the integral works out to

the desired value,N. Do this for values of kTεFranging from 0.1 up to 2,

and plot the results to reproduce Figure7.16. (It's probably not a good idea

to try to use numerical methods when kTεF is much smaller than 0.1, since

you can start getting overflow errors from exponentiating large numbers.

But this is the region where we've already solved the problem analytically.)

(c) Plug your calculated values ofµ into the energy integral (7.54), and evaluate

that integral numerically to obtain the energy as a function of temperature

forkTup to 2εF Plot the results, and evaluate the slope to obtain the

heat capacity. Check that the heat capacity has the expected behavior at

both low and high temperatures.

Consider a collection of 10,000 atoms of rubidium- 87 , confined inside a box of volume (10-5m)3.

(a) Calculate ε0, the energy of the ground state. (Express your answer in both joules and electron-volts.)

(b) Calculate the condensation temperature, and compare kTctoε0.

(c) Suppose that T=0.9TcHow many atoms are in the ground state? How close is the chemical potential to the ground-state energy? How many atoms are in each of the (threefold-degenerate) first excited states?

(d) Repeat parts (b) and (c) for the case of 106atoms, confined to the same volume. Discuss the conditions under which the number of atoms in the ground state will be much greater than the number in the first excited state.

In addition to the cosmic background radiation of photons, the universe is thought to be permeated with a background radiation of neutrinos (v) and antineutrinos (v-), currently at an effective temperature of 1.95 K. There are three species of neutrinos, each of which has an antiparticle, with only one allowed polarisation state for each particle or antiparticle. For parts (a) through (c) below, assume that all three species are exactly massless

(a) It is reasonable to assume that for each species, the concentration of neutrinos equals the concentration of antineutrinos, so that their chemical potentials are equal: μν=μν¯. Furthermore, neutrinos and antineutrinos can be produced and annihilated in pairs by the reaction

ν+ν¯2γ

(where y is a photon). Assuming that this reaction is at equilibrium (as it would have been in the very early universe), prove that u =0 for both the neutrinos and the antineutrinos.

(b) If neutrinos are massless, they must be highly relativistic. They are also fermions: They obey the exclusion principle. Use these facts to derive a formula for the total energy density (energy per unit volume) of the neutrino-antineutrino background radiation. differences between this "neutrino gas" and a photon gas. Antiparticles still have positive energy, so to include the antineutrinos all you need is a factor of 2. To account for the three species, just multiply by 3.) To evaluate the final integral, first change to a dimensionless variable and then use a computer or look it up in a table or consult Appendix B. (Hint: There are very few

(c) Derive a formula for the number of neutrinos per unit volume in the neutrino background radiation. Evaluate your result numerically for the present neutrino temperature of 1.95 K.

d) It is possible that neutrinos have very small, but nonzero, masses. This wouldn't have affected the production of neutrinos in the early universe, when me would have been negligible compared to typical thermal energies. But today, the total mass of all the background neutrinos could be significant. Suppose, then, that just one of the three species of neutrinos (and the corresponding antineutrino) has a nonzero mass m. What would mc2 have to be (in eV), in order for the total mass of neutrinos in the universe to be comparable to the total mass of ordinary matter?

Starting from equation 7.83, derive a formula for the density of states of a photon gas (or any other gas of ultra relativistic particles having two polarisation states). Sketch this function.

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?

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