Insights Blog
-- Browse All Articles --
Physics Articles
Physics Tutorials
Physics Guides
Physics FAQ
Math Articles
Math Tutorials
Math Guides
Math FAQ
Education Articles
Education Guides
Bio/Chem Articles
Technology Guides
Computer Science Tutorials
Forums
Trending
Featured Threads
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Menu
Log in
Register
Navigation
More options
Contact us
Close Menu
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Forums
Physics
Classical Physics
Thermodynamics
How Do Microstates, kT, and Entropy Interact in Statistical Mechanics?
Reply to thread
Message
[QUOTE="Charles Link, post: 5666428, member: 583509"] I can give a simple input here, but it is difficult to elaborate much. The microstates are counted as the volume of space (in momentum space and coordinate space) and the number of states in space ## \Delta^3 \vec{p} ## and ## \Delta^3 \vec{x} ## is ## \Delta n=(\Delta^3 \vec{p} \Delta^3 \vec{x})/h^3 ## where ## h ## is Planck's constant. This is for a single particle. For a number ## N ## of indistinguishable particles, you take the ## N ##th power of this divided by ## N! ## to count the states. If a particle is at a different location, it of course counts as a different state. ## \\ ## One additional comment is in statistical physics the partition function ## Z ## is often computed. If ## \zeta ## is the partition function for a single particle, ## Z ## for ## N ## particles is ## Z=\frac{\zeta^N}{N!} ##. The partition function for a single particle ## \zeta = \Sigma \, e^{\frac{-E_s}{kT}} ## summed over all states of the single particle. For the case of momentum and position states in a container (in the gaseous state), the sum over all states can be performed as an integral in momentum and coordinate space. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Post reply
Forums
Physics
Classical Physics
Thermodynamics
How Do Microstates, kT, and Entropy Interact in Statistical Mechanics?
Back
Top