Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal

Home Assignment 3
PHY 306/604
Statistical Mechanics

Duration: .... ... Marks

1. The energy levels of a three dimensional rotor of moment of inertia I

}2
are given by EJ,M = 2m J(J + 1/(2I)). Where J = 0, 1, 2, 2....; M =
−J, −J + 1, ....J. Consider a system of N rotors:
a) Find the no of degenerate state for given rotor.
b) Write down the partition function of the rigid rotors.
c) Compute the internal energy of the system.
d) Show that in the limit of high temperature summation over the J can
be replaced as integral.
e) Compute the internal energy and specific heat of the system in high
temperature limit.

2. Consider a gas on of spin 1/2 atoms with the density n atoms per unit
volume. Each atom has intrinsic magnetic moment µ and the interaction
between them is negleigible.

Assume that it obeys classical statistics. a) What is the probability of

finding an atom with µ parallel to the applied magnetic field H at tem-
perature T .

b) Find the average magnetization of a gas in the both the high and low
temperature limits .

c) Determine the magnetic susceptibility χ in terms of µ.

3. For the grand canonical ensemble show that two systems are in equilib-
rium. Then there chemical potentials are same.

4. Consider a mono atomic gas of N particles in a volume V . Show that

the number n of particles in some volume sub volume v is given by the
Poisson distribution
e−λq e−λn̄
Pn = (λq)n = (n̄)n (1)
n! n!

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5. A surface with N0 adsorption centers has N(N leN0 ) gas molecules ad-
sorbed on its surface. Show that chemical potential of adsorbed molecules
is given by,
N
µ = kB T log (2)
(N0 − N )a(T )
Where a(T ) is t he partition function of the a single adsorbed molecule.
Solve the problem by costructing the grand partition function as well as
the partition function of the system. Neglect the interaction among the
adsorbed molecules.

6. Consider a system of imperfect gas of N molecules contained in a box of

volume. The Hamiltonian of the system is
N
X X
H= p2i /2m + Uij (3)
i=1 i,j

where v(|ri − rj |) . The intermolecular potential has U (r). Let fij =

f (|ri − rj |) and f (r) = e−βU (r) − 1.

a ) Then show that the equation of state of the system is,

Pv ∂Z(v, T )
=1+v (4)
kB T ∂v
Where v = V /N and
 Z 
1 1
Z(v, T ) = log dr1 dr2 ...drN Πi<j (1 + fij ) (5)
N VN

b) Show that at low density equation of state of the system is approximated

as, Z ∞
Pv 1
=1− dr4πr2 f (r) (6)
kB T 2v 0
7. Find the temperature Tc , pressure pc , and volume Vc at the critical point
of a van der Waals gas, and calculate the ratio pc Vc /RTc .
8. (a) Consider an ideal gas of N particle of mass m confined to a volume V at
temperature. Using the classical approximation for the partition function
and assuming the particles are indistinguishable, calculate the chemical
potential µ of the gas.

(b) A gas of N particles, also of mass m, is adsorbed on a surface area A,

forming a two dimensional ideal gas at temperature T on the surface. The
p2
energy of an adsorbed particle is  = 2m − 0 , where p = (px , py ) and 0
is the surface binding energy per particle. Using the same approximations
as in part (a) calculate the chemical potential.

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9. Consider an adsorbent surface having N sites, each of which can adsorb
one gas molecule. The surface is in contact with an ideal gas of chemical
potential µ (determined by the pressure p and the temperature T). As-
suming that the adsorbed molecules have energy −0 compared to one in
a free state.

(a) Find the grand canonical partition function.

(b) Calculate the covering ratio θ , i.e.. the ratio

 of adsorbed
P molecules to
adsorbing sites on the surface. A useful relation (1+x)N = N1 N !xN1 /N1 !(N −
N1 !)]