PHYS 2163 - Statistical Physics 2

Problem Set No. 1

(Due date: January 10, 2014)

1. Exact Differentials. Consider an infinitesimal quantity Adx+Bdy = dF

where A and B are both function of x and y
A. Suppose that dF is an exact differential so that F = F (x, y). Show
that A and B must then satisfy the condition that
B
A
=
y
x
B. If dF is an exact differential, show that the integral
along a closed path in the xy-plane must vanish.

(1)
R

dF evaluated

2. A Quasi-Static Process (Source: Reif 2.11). In a quasi-static process

A B (see Fig) in which no heat is exchanged in the environment, the
mean pressure p of a certain amount of gas is found to change with its
volume, according to the relation p = V 5/3 , where is constant. Find
quasi-static work done and the net heat absorbed by the system in each of
the following processes, all of which take the system from the macrostate
A to the macrostate B.
Figure 1:

A. The system is expanded from its original to its final volume, heat
being added to maintain the pressure constant. The volume is then kept
constant, and heat is extracted to reduce the pressure to 106 dynes cm2 .
1

B. The volume is increased and heat is supplied to cause the pressure to

decrease linearly with the volume.
C. The two steps of process (A) are performed in the opposite order.
3. Show that the heat capacity at constant volume CV of a Van der Waals
gas is a function of the temperature alone.
4. A glass flask with a long narrow neck, of small cross-sectional area A,
is filled with 1 mol of a dilute gas CP /CV = , at temperature T . A
glass bead of mass m fits snugly into the neck, and can slide along the
neck without friction. Find the frequency of small oscillations of the bead
about its equilibrium position. This gives a method to measure .
Figure 2:

5. Given the Helmholtz free energy

A(T, V ) = N kT ln

h T 3/2 (V N b)d
i
N 2 V
n

where a, b and d are constants.

A. Find the equation of state.
B. Calculate CV and CP .

(2)