State equations for a thermodynamic substance/system

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the state equations for an ideal gas, specifically identifying three key equations involving the variables (U, T, S, p, V). The two primary state equations are the ideal gas law, pV=nRT, and the internal energy equation, U=(3/2)nRT. The third equation, which incorporates entropy, is derived from the differential form dS=(3/2)nR(dT/T)+nR(dV/V), leading to the Sackur-Tetrode formula for entropy S=(5/2)k_B N + k_B N ln[(V/N)(mU/(3πħ²N))^(3/2)]. The discussion emphasizes the necessity of classical thermodynamic laws and quantum considerations for a comprehensive understanding of these equations.

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  • Understanding of ideal gas laws and thermodynamic variables
  • Familiarity with the Sackur-Tetrode formula for entropy
  • Knowledge of classical thermodynamics laws (Laws 0-2) and Nernst's theorem
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cianfa72
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TL;DR
About the state equations for a thermodynamic substance/system.
Hi, as follow up to this thread I believe for any substance/thermodynamic system there exists actually a set of 3 state equations between the 5 variables ##(U,T,S,p,V)##.

For example in the case of ideal gas which are the 3 equations ? Thanks.
 
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What are your thoughts on this? Please also articulate your understanding of the definition of a "state equation."
 
Chestermiller said:
Please also articulate your understanding of the definition of a "state equation."
For an ideal gas, I'm aware of there are two state equations, namely $$pV=nRT$$ and $$U=\frac 3 2 nRT$$ From that thread it should be another equation in which enters the entropy ##S##. What is this third equation ?
 
Last edited:
cianfa72 said:
For an ideal gas, I'm aware of there are two state equations, namely $$pV=nRT$$ and $$U=\frac 3 2 nRT$$ From that thread it should be another equation in which enters the entropy ##S##. What is this third equation ?
How about $$dS=\frac{3}{2}nR\frac{dT}{T}+nR\frac{dV}{V}$$
 
Yes, integrating it we get $$S=\frac 3 2 nR \,lnT + nR\, lnV$$
 
That cannot be true, because you have dimensionful quantities in the logarithm. The correct Sackur-Tetrode formula for the entropy of an ideal gas is
$$S=\frac{5}{2} k_{\text{B}} N +k_{\text{B}} N \ln \left [ \frac{V}{N} \left (\frac{m U}{3 \pi \hbar^2 N} \right)^{3/2}\right].$$
 
vanhees71 said:
That cannot be true, because you have dimensionful quantities in the logarithm
Sorry, we cannot simply integrate the differential form in post #4 ?
 
[EDIT: Correted typos in formulae in view of #9]

From this you can only get the entropy differences, i.e.,
$$S-S_0=\frac{3}{2} n R \ln(T/T_0)+n R \ln(V/V_0)=n R \ln \left [\frac{V}{V_0} \left (\frac{T}{T_0} \right)^{3/2}\right] .$$
Now ##U=3 N k_{\text{B}} T/2## and ##n R=N k_{\text{B}}##. So you can write the above result as
$$S-S_0=N k_{\text{B}} \ln \left [\frac{V}{V_0} \left (\frac{U}{U_0} \right)^{3/2} \right].$$
Thus this is, of course, consistent with the Sackur-Tetrode formula for the absolute entropy, but the latter can only be derived by semi-classical quantum considerations, not from phenomenological classical thermodynamics.

You need in addition to the "classical fundamental Laws 0-2 of thermodynamics" also Nernst's theorem (3rd Law) as well as the indistinguishability of particles and the "natural measure" for phase-space volumes, which is determined by QT in terms of Planck's action constant, ##h=2 \pi \hbar##.

For details of a semi-classical argument for the entropy, see Sect. 1.5 in

https://itp.uni-frankfurt.de/~hees/publ/kolkata.pdf
 
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vanhees71 said:
So you can write the above result as
$$S-S_0=N k_{\text{B}} \ln \left [\frac{V}{V_0} \left (\frac{U}{U_0} \right) \right].$$
From what you said, it should be actually: $$S-S_0=N k_{\text{B}} \ln \left [\frac{V}{V_0} \left (\frac{U}{U_0} \right)^{\frac 3 2} \right]$$
 
Last edited:
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  • #10
Of course. I correct it in the original posting.
 

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