UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

BSc and MSci EXAMINATION 2003

For Internal Students of Royal Holloway

DO NOT TURN OVER UNTIL TOLD TO BEGIN

PH2610B: CLASSICAL AND STATISTICAL THERMODYNAMICS

Time Allowed: TWO hours

Answer QUESTION ONE and TWO other questions No credit will be given for attempting any further questions

Approximate part-marks for questions are given in the right-hand margin

Only CASIO fx85WA Calculators are permitted

PH2610B/44 Royal Holloway and Bedford New College 2003

GENERAL PHYSICAL CONSTANTS Permeability of vacuum Permittivity of vacuum

0 0
1/40

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

4 10-7 8.85 10-12 9.0 109 3.00 108 1.60 10-19 9.11 10-31 1.66 10-27 1.67 10-27 1.67 10-27 1.76 1011 6.63 10-34 1.05 10-34 1.38 10-23 5.67 10-8 8.31 6.02 1023 6.67 10-11 9.81 2.24 10-2 1.01 105

H m-1 F m-1 m F-1 m s-1 C kg kg kg kg C kg-1 Js Js J K-1 W m-2 K-4 J mol-1 K-1 mol-1 N m2 kg-2 m s-2 m3 N m-2

Speed of light in vacuum Elementary charge Electron (rest) mass Unified atomic mass constant Proton rest mass Neutron rest mass Ratio of electronic charge to mass Planck constant

c e me mu mp mn e/me h = h/2

Boltzmann constant Stefan-Boltzmann constant Gas constant Avogadro constant Gravitational constant Acceleration due to gravity Volume of one mole of an ideal gas at STP One standard atmosphere

R NA G g

P0

MATHEMATICAL CONSTANTS e 2.718 3.142 loge10 2.303

 page 1

PH2610B
PART MARKS

ANSWER ONLY FIVE sections of Question One. You are advised not to spend more than 40 minutes answering Question One. 1. (a) Air in a diesel engine, at an initial temperature of 17C is compressed adiabatically by a factor of 20. Calculate the final temperature. Take = cp/cv = 1.4 for air. [4]

(b)

The Helmholtz free energy is defined as F = E TS . By taking the differential of F(T,V), prove the Maxwell relation
S p = . V T T V

[4]

(c)

State the Boltzmann Planck equation for the entropy of a system, defining the symbols used. Prove that for a composite system consisting of two parts, this equation shows that the total entropy is the sum of the entropy of the two parts.

[4]

(d)

Discuss briefly Bose-Einstein condensation in an ideal gas of bosons.

[4]

(e)

Explain why the internal energy of an ideal gas of fermions at T<<TF , where TF is the Fermi temperature, is much larger than the value expected by incorrectly treating the system as a classical gas.

[4]

(f)

Describe the Carnot cycle of an ideal gas. Illustrate your answer by a p - V diagram, labelling the four parts of the complete cycle. How would one deduce the work done by the gas in the complete cycle from this curve?

[4]

TURN OVER

 page 2

PH2610B
PART MARKS

2. (a)

A system consists of N identical, localised particles, each of which has two quantum states of energy 0 and . Give the general definition of the single particle partition function Z, and obtain an expression for Z in this case. [5]

(b)

If /kB = 1 K, calculate the ratio of the number of particles in the two energy levels at T = 10 K and T = 0.5 K. Make a sketch of the number of particles in each level as a function of temperature.

[4]

(c)

Show that the internal energy of the system is given by

E=

N . 1 + e / k B T
[4]

Discuss the temperature dependence of this quantity by sketching E as a function of kBT /.

(d)

State, with reasons, the entropy of this system in the limits kBT >> and kBT << .

[3]

(e)

Calculate the heat capacity of this system. Show that at high temperatures, such that kBT >> , this is proportional to 1/ T 2 .

[4]

TURN OVER

 page 3

PH2610B
PART MARKS

3.

(a)

Give the Bose-Einstein distribution function, explaining the symbols used and their physical meaning.

[4]

(b)

Black-body radiation is described in terms of an ideal gas of photons, confined within a cavity of volume V at temperature T. Write down equations relating the photon energy to its angular frequency and to its wave-number k =2/.

[2]

(c)

Explain why the gas of photons can be treated as a gas of bosons with chemical potential equal to zero.

[2]

(d)

Define the energy spectrum of black body radiation, E ( ) and sketch its form at two different temperatures. How do the peak frequency and the area under the curve vary with temperature? Give an example from astrophysics of an important black body spectrum.

[4]

(e)

The number of photons with wave-number in the range k to k + dk is given by

g (k )dk = V

k 2 dk .

Show that the energy spectrum is given by E ( ) = Vh 3 . 2 c3 exp(h / k BT ) 1

[5]

(f)

Show that the radiative power emitted from a black body is proportional to T 4. You may assume that the radiative power is proportional to the energy density.
x 3 dx 2 = x 0 e 1 15

[3]

TURN OVER

 page 4

PH2610B
PART MARKS

4.

(a)

Give two alternative statements of the second law of thermodynamics.

[5]

(b)

2J of heat are transferred reversibly to a system with heat capacity 500 JK1 at a temperature of 300 K. Evaluate the increase in temperature and entropy of the system. Discuss the meaning of reversibly, in this case.

[3]

(c)

The heat capacity of a sample at low temperatures is found to be well described by Cv(T) = AT, where A = 1.0 JK 2. (i) (ii) Find the entropy at T = 4K.
2 Show that the internal energy is given by E (T ) = 1 2 AT + constant.

[4]

(d)

Two identical samples of such a solid, one at 4 K and the other at 1 K, are brought into thermal contact. The system is otherwise isolated from the external world. Find the final temperature and the increase in entropy, expressed as a fraction of the total entropy of the initial state. Discuss briefly why this increase in entropy occurs.
[4]

(e)

Alternatively the samples could be brought into thermal equilibrium reversibly by operating a Carnot engine between them, the hotter sample acting as heat source and the cooler as heat sink. Discuss the total entropy change in this case, and determine the equilibrium temperature.

[4]

TURN OVER

 page 5

PH2610B
PART MARKS

5.

(a)

The Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of particle speeds for an ideal gas is given by

m f (v ) = 2 k BT

3/ 2

( 4 v ) exp 2mv . kT
2

State the physical meaning of f(v)dv. Briefly discuss, with the aid of sketches, the temperature dependence of f ( v) . Explain, without supplying a full derivation, how you would calculate the mean particle speed, and root mean square (rms) particle speed. Discuss how the rms speed depends on temperature.

[8]

(b)

For a particle in a box, the number of quantum states with wavenumber in the range k to k + dk is given by g (k )dk = V 2 k dk . 2 2

The single particle partition function is

2 mk BT z =V 2 h
3/ 2

.
[2]

Write down the equation which relates these two quantities.

(c)

Write down the Boltzmann distribution function n ( ) for a classical gas.

[2]

(d)

From these results derive the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution f(v) quoted in part (a).

[4]

(e)

Set down the condition for a gas to be described by classical statistics. Does this condition apply to a neutron star (modelled as a high density Fermi gas), of density 1017 kg m3 at temperature 108 K?

[4]

END

JS