Statistical mechanics and macrostates

[Nylex]

In my Statistical Physics and Entropy module, we did something about atoms in a box with an imaginary partition down the middle, so atoms could either be on the left or the right. If there were 4 atoms in the box, the system would have 5 macrostates. If there were 8, there would be 9.

Is is true that for n atoms in such a box, there are n + 1 macrostates, for any n?

Thanks.

 

[dextercioby]

Wrt what statistics...?If those atoms are identical,then u'd have 3 possible cases:Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics,Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein.

If they're not identical,then it wouldn't matter what classical/quantum description u adopt...

Either way,a macrostate would be described through a n-tuplet (1,2,...,n) for distinguishable particles or (1,1,...,1) for indistinguishable particles.

Daniel.

 

[Galileo]

If your macrostate is defined as the number of atoms in the left side of the box, then yes, since you can have 0,1,2,..., or n atoms on the left.

 

[Nylex]

Wrt what statistics...?If those atoms are identical,then u'd have 3 possible cases:Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics,Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein.

If they're not identical,then it wouldn't matter what classical/quantum description u adopt...

Either way,a macrostate would be described through a n-tuplet (1,2,...,n) for distinguishable particles or (1,1,...,1) for indistinguishable particles.

Daniel.

As usual, I have no idea what you mean.

If your macrostate is defined as the number of atoms in the left side of the box, then yes, since you can have 0,1,2,..., or n atoms on the left.

Thanks.

 

[dextercioby]

If those 4 particles are photons,how many macrostates do you have there...?

Daniel.

 

[Nylex]

If those 4 particles are photons,how many macrostates do you have there...?

Daniel.

 

[dextercioby]

It was the easiest example to what i'd been trying to tell...It matters what kind of particles you have there...It's not the same thing if they're billiard balls,fermions or bosons...

Daniel.