PHY294, Winter 2023, Final Exam (Thermal Physics)

Answer all questions on the exam paper.

I. Answer the following questions qualitatively. (No long-winded expressions and derivations!)

1. Why don’t we have to take into account the structure of the nucleus when considering the
partition function (or, in general, the thermodynamics) at room temperature of, say, a hydro-
gen gas? How about the (supposed) string-like structure of the electrons, of the quarks inside
the proton, etc.?

2. For a monatomic ideal gas of atoms of mass m, number density N/V , at what temperature
Tc do you expect the CV = 3kN/2 law (CV is the constant-voume heat capacity) to break
down? Answer the question parametrically, i.e. find the dependence of Tc on n, m, and on
any fundamental constants that might be involved, neglecting numerical factors.
@p
3. Does thermodynamic stability require that CV be positive or negative? How about @V T,N
,a
quantity proportional to the “bulk modulus” (a measure of the material’s sti↵ness)? Explain
qualitatively why.

4. Much of the material of this class used the “Einstein solid,” a collection of N simple harmonic
oscillators of frequency !, as one of the toy models of statistical mechanics. One motivation
for this system’s domination of the course material is because it is fairly easy to study. Do
you think the study of the thermodynamics of the Einstein solid is relevant for real physical
systems? How about the study of several Einstein solids (say with di↵erent frequencies) in
thermal equilibrium? Enumerate as many examples as you can possibly think of (only a
qualitative discussion of their relevance is needed!).

Total number of points for II.: 25 points

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II. Consider a two-dimensional gas of point-like particles of mass m at temperature T (recall that
a computer simulation of a two-dimensional gas of billiard balls, shown in the first and last thermal
physics classes, was used to motivate much of the material in this course!). Here, you shall consider
any one particle of the gas as the “system” coupled to the “thermal reservoir” of the rest of the
particles of the gas.

1. Use the Boltzmann distribution to find the probability that the particle’s speed is in the
infinitesimal interval (v, v + dv). (At this point it suffices to have an unnormalized probability
distribution.)

2. What is the most likely speed of the particle?

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3. Normalize the probability distribution and use it to compute the average kinetic energy mv2
of the particle. Did you find the expected answer? Explain. (Various integrals you can use
are given in the formula sheet.)

4. Apart from computer simulations (a numerical “experiment”), do you know of ways to measure
the speed distributions of particles in a gas (in three dimensions) in a real experiment? (A
qualitative descriptive answer suffices.)

Total number of points for I.: 25 points

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III. Consider an Einstein solid of N oscillators of frequency !. Recall that we take (setting the
“zero-point” energy to zero) the energy levels of a single oscillator to equal ~! times the number of
quanta excited. We studied the Einstein solid using the canonical distribution (a (T, V, N )-system)
and found the partition function of a single oscillator, Z1 = 1 e1 ~! , using = kT 1
. We also studied
the Einstein solid using the microcanonical distribution (a (E, V, N )-system), where we determined
its multiplicity function ⌦(N, q). When N and q (q is the total number of quanta excited in the
qe N
solid) are both large, in the q N limit, the multiplicity function is ⌦high (q, N ) ' N , while at
⇣ ⌘ q
Ne
q ⌧ N , it was given by ⌦low (q, N ) ' q
.

1. Use the single-oscillator partition function Z1 to find the entropy of the gas as a function of
the temperature, S = S(T, N ). It is sufficient to consider the expression for the entropy in
the high-temperature limit, kT ~!, and in the opposite low-temperature limit.

2. Now use the multiplicity functions ⌦high and ⌦low to find the entropy as a function of the
energy, i.e. S(E, N ), in both limits. Use the statistical definition of the temperature to
express the entropy as a function of T in the two limits.

3. Compare the result of part 2. with the expression obtained from the partition function (part
1. above) in the two limits. Do you have a comment on the result? Do you find one calculation
easier than the other?

Total number of points for III.: 25 points

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 Total number of points: 25 + 25 + 25= 75

Some useful formulae are on the next page.

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Some useful mathematical expressions are: d dx ln x
= x1 , ln xa = a ln x, ln e = 1, eln x = x, 41/2 = 2,
a(x) k 1
44 = 64, dedx = ea(x) da(x)
dx
, dx
dx
= kxk 1 , the function e x ! 0 as x ! 0 and is positive for x > 0;
n 1
also d dxe n x |x!0 = 0, for all n > 0. The ideal gas law is pV = N kT . The energy of a single-atomic
classical ideal gas of N atoms is U = 32 N kT . The work done by the gas in a quasistatic process
RV2
along some curve p(V ) in the p V plane is W = p(V )dV . The entropy and multiplicity function
V1
are related by S(E, N, V ) = k ln ⌦(E, N, V ), while the temperature is T = 1/(@S/@E)N,V . The
~
thermal de Broglie wavelength of a gas of particles of mass m at temperature T is th. ⇠ pmkT . The
ratio between the thermal de Broglie wavelength and the typical distance between particles in the
gas (as determined by the number density of the gas) determines, roughly, under what conditions
a gas can be considered classical and obeying the ideal gas law. The energy levels of an oscillator,
ignoring the zero-point energy, are ~!n, where n 0 is the (integer) number of quanta. The first
law of TD expresses energy conservation: the energy of a system of fixed number of particles can
change because of the heat transfer and work performed.

Use the space below for scribbles, if needed before writing your official answers.

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Use this space for scribbles, if needed before writing your official answers.