Set 7 Solutions

Physics 310 - Dan Richman March 31, 2010

Nelson YT 6C

The box with the gas and spring is a small system in contact with a large thermal reservoir (the slab). Equilibrium means the system minimizes F = E T S , meaning F = 0. So for the system, 0 = E T S. E for the system is f , the work of the spring moving a small distance . If this energy ows into the gas, the gas temperature would be raised, but it then ows into the reservoir, since the reservoir is keeping the temperature constant. S is the entropy change of the gas, which only depends on volume change since its energy is constant as described above. To understand the following step think about how you take the derivative of a natural logarithm (and notice the s here are like dierentials in calculus). S = N kB ln V Vf = N kB . Vi V

The volume change is due to a change in length, so the fraction change in length determines the fractional change in volume: V = L V. Plugging all these back into 0 = E T S gives f= N kB T , L

giving the equilibrium length (position of the piston) in terms of temperature and force. Also recognize this as the ideal gas law by dividing both sides by the area of the piston: f N kB T N kB T = pressure P = = . A LA V

Nelson YT 6E

Molecular-size motors take tiny steps, so they allow for the incremental release of free energy by small constraints, relatively well controlled (compared to big contraptions). A lot of heat from burning coal is wasted because we dont take the incremental release of energy from each breaking bond directly into raising the temperature of water (not all of a big mass of coal is in contact with the boiler, and there are other losses of eciency).

Nelson 6.4

(a) Where the ball sits is a matter of equilibriumwith a changed force the ball sits a new equilibrium position: d1 = f1 /k . The distance change is therefore d d1 = (f f1 )/k , and the work done during the change is by the new force: W1 = f1 (d d1 ) = f1 (f f1 )/k . (b) Optimized force maximizes the work: f dW1 = 0 = f1 = . df1 2 In this case, W1 = ff1 1 f2 f1 ( f f1 ) = = . k 22k 4 k

(c) Continually (gradually or incrementally) lower f1 rather than keeping it constant, so the spring releases slowly and does work in the process against the loadthe more quickly it moves the more energy it loses to viscous drag.

Nelson YT 6F

(a) If you do the integrals in this problem you have shown where the equipartition theorem comes from: the integrals that are of the form x2 ex dx
1 yield 2 kB T (when the normalization of the Boltzmann distribution is correct! e.g. k/2kB T for the x degree of freedomreplace the k with m for the v degree of freedom). 1 In other words, what you discover is that 2 kB T is partitioned into each degree of freedom in the situation. For this situation, having one kinetic energy and one potential energy means our average energy is kB T . I did the integrals on paper to show this, and that paper is scanned and saved as a separate le for you to
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see. Also, my apologies to those in my oce hours Tuesday whom I mistakenly told that the velocity integral would be from 0 to +. The integrals for both degrees of freedom should be to +. (b) In three dimensions there are six partitions of thermal energyone each for kinetic energies that correspond to velocities along 3 axes and potential energies for coordinates along 3 axes: E =6 1 kB T 2 = 3kB T.

Nelson 6.5

(a) Average magnetization is the probability-weighted sum of magnetization values 1 and -1; the probabilities are determined by the magnetizations relative energies: 1 1 . M = 2 B/kT 2 1+e 1 + e B/kT Multiply top and bottom of the left term by eB/kT , multiply the top and bottom of the right term by eB/kT to get eB/kT eB/kT eB/kT eB/kT B . = = tanh B/kT B/kT B/kT B/kT B/kT B/kT kT e +e e +e e +e (b) When the applied eld goes to innity the magnetization goes to 1. This represents spin alignment with the eld (lower energy state). When the eld goes to 0 the magnetization goes to 0. This represents randomized spin: with no applied eld thermal randomization is the operative force.

Nelson 6.6

Having a spring-like network around the particle means that r.m.s. displacements from the equilibrium position correspond to the particle having average potential energy 1 k (x)2 , 2 and since this is due to thermal motion, then the average potential energy equals the average thermal energy: 1 1 k (x)2 = kB T. 2 2 Therefore k = kB T / (x)2 = 4.1 pN/(35 nm)2 = 0.0033 pN/nm.

Nelson YT 6G

Its stunning how mathematically involved Nelson makes these Your Turns. See the scanned document for my solution.

Thermostatistics of N spins

(a) The number of microstates that can make a macrostate is found by the binomial coecient (call this the multiplicity or degeneracy of states); M is the number of down spins out of N total spins: N! (N M )!M ! If all the spins are down then M = N and N M = 0, so the multiplicity is 1. The entropy is S = kB ln (multiplicity) = 0. (b) (c) The multiplicity for M spins down is
N! (N M )!M ! .

By applying the Stirling approximation ln X ! X ln X X : S = kB ln N! = kB [ln N ! ln(N M )! ln M !] (N M )!M !

kB [N ln N M ln M (N M ) ln(N M )]. (d) Find where the derivative with respect to M is zero.

dS d =0= [M ln M +(N M ) ln(N M )] = N M = M = M = N/2. dM dM (e) Use the denition of temperature and use the chain rule to take the derivative that the denition calls for: 1 dS dM dS = = . T dE dE dM
dE Since E = c(N 2M ) then dM = 2c; well use its reciprocal. We have dS N M = ln from the work in part (d). Therefore, dM M

1 kB N M = ln . T 2c M (f ) When M goes to 0 then T goes to 0this corresponds to the third law of thermodynamics; when M goes to N/2 then T goes to innity; when M is greater than N/2 then T is negativenegative T means a system becomes more ordered as energy is added. In a tangible sense, a system with negative T is hotter than any system with positive T, because heat will ow from the negative T system to the positive T system if they are placed in contact. 4