Recent content by 2bootspizza

as another perspective i have a physics book by arthur beiser called modern physics. as an appendix he derives the maxwell-botzmann energy distribution function. as put forth by beiser: consider an assembly of N molecules whose energies are limited to e1, e2, e3, ... e(i). can be either...

if you can do this stuff then why can't you partition a simple integer like 5? and why do you state the classical limit of phase space is h? I'm sure you didn't mean that. i never stated(re-read above) that the partition function is not important in statistical mechanics. i was referring to...

ah yes, to back up what i just said: this is from your favorite site, wiki web on phase space: Whilst the classical phase space is a continuum, the introduction of Planck's constant quantisises the space and the movement along the trajectory happens in small "jumps" of size h. from...

here is the number 5 partitioned: 5 4:1 3:2 3:1:1 2:2:1 2:1:1:1 1:1:1:1:1 if one knows in principle what a partition function is, the question i asked could have been answered in 20 seconds. and its easier than defining a term with other abstract terms. (instead you refer me to wiki;-)...

ok, i will be a little more specific with your answer. i specifically mentioned boltzmanns statistical approach to say, molecules . here we deal with kinetic energy. where do potential energies come into play when deriving the energy distribution function for ideal gases? the hamiltonian is...

thank you physics monkey but this is really not helpful. it looks like you are sort of just throwing terms around. could someone else just give me a small (but concrete)example. i have the feeling the approach was used in order to cross the border from discrete to continuous energy. but the...

can anyone handle this one? when deriving a distribution function using a purely statistical approach, Boltzmann uses some kind of a phase space, that is one with 6N dimentions, 3 for position, 3 for momentum. i see some really short descripions of it but not enough to understand it. all...

it's just not sinking in.. i know a cell in phase space has 6 dimensions, 3 for momentum and the other 3 for position. but i'd like to understand it(phase space). can someone give me an example maybe or tell me why this constuct is needed?? or a link to a very good description?

are photons only generated from vibrating electrons? only from atomic transitions?