Statistical Mechanics Model Paper

Section A
Note: Answer any two questions; each question carries 5 marks

(2 x 5 = 10)

1)
a) What is a statistical ensemble?
b) What are differences between three types of the ensembles?
c) A system with just two energy levels is in thermal equilibrium with a heat
reservoir at temperature 600 K. The energy gap between the levels is 0.1 eV. Find
the probability that the system is in higher energy level.
2)
a) What is a difference between the macroscopic and microscopic states?
b) What is the grand canonical partition function for a solid vapor equilibrium
system?
c) Show that the pressure in the gaseous phase is given by Langmuir equation

a certain fraction temperature

1

3)
a) The

entropy
of
an
isolated
ideal
gas
is
given
3/2

V
5 Nk
4 mE
S Nk ln

3
2 h N 3 N
2

. Calculate the chemical potential.

b) Express the chemical potential in terms of variables T , V , and N .

c) Calculate the numerical value of

temperature and at atmospheric pressure.

by

kT for the helium gas at room

4)
a) What are the difference between Fermi Dirac and Bose Einstein distribution
function?
b) Show that the mean energy per photon in a blackbody radiation cavity is very
nearly 2.7kT .
c) Using the general theory, show that the mean energy E and the magnetization M
of a paramagnetic solid are related by E MB .
Section B
Note: Answer any three questions; each question carries 10 marks
5)

a) Obtain the expression for mean energy of Fermions at T 0 K .

b) Show that for classical monoatomic ideal gas having N particles contained in a
E
volume V the number of states
of the system in the energy range
E and E E is given by

6)

7)

(3 x 10 = 30)

E BV N E

3N
2

. Here, B is a constant.

a) Consider a system whose energy levels are given by 0, , 2 . The energy level is
two-fold degenerate and the other two are non-degenerate. Determine the partition
function of the system.
b) Consider a gas of atoms obeying Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics. Determine the
a p
average value of e over all the moments p of each of the particles. Here, a is
the constant vector, m is the mass of each atom, and T is the temperature.
a) A particle is confined to the region x 0 by a potential which increases linearly as
v x v0 x
. Determine the mean position of the particle at temperature T.
b) A one dimensional chain consists of a set of N rods each of length a. When
stretched by a load, each rod can align either parallel or perpendicular to the
length of the chain. The energy of a rod is when perpendicular to it. Determine
the average length of the chain when it is in thermal equilibrium at a temperature
T.

8)
a) Consider a mole of steam under high pressure, so that the Vander Waals equation
is the equation of state. Vander Waals constants for steam:
a 6.0 l 2 atm/mol 2 , b 0.8 l/mol . It is initially at pressure P1 40 atm and has
V 0.8 l
volume Vi 0.5 l . It is then expanded to f
. Calculate the initial
temperature of the steam. Also, calculate the final temperature if the expansion is
isobaric.
b) Consider the chemical reaction A B C . The molar heat capacities at constant
pressure of substances A, B, and C are the following functions of absolute
1

2
2
temperature T: CA 3T , CB 5T , CC 10T . This reaction is carried out at a
constant temperature of 300 K. Calculate the change in entropy per mole of the
substance C produced. Also, calculate the heat released per mole of the substance
C produced.

9)
a) Consider a system of two Ising spins S1 and S2 taking values 1 , with interaction
energy given by JS1S 2 , when it is in thermal equilibrium at a temperature T.
C
determine C when the average energy of the system varies as k BT . Here, the
temperature T is large.
b) The speed v of the molecules of mass m of an ideal gas obeys Maxwells velocity
distribution law at an equilibrium temperature T. Determine the average value of

10)

vy

. Let

v ,v ,v
x

be the components of velocity.

a) Consider a system of N non-interacting quantum mechanical harmonic oscillators

in three dimensions. Compute the canonical partition function of the system
Z T, N
.
b) For a d-dimensional medium in which the lowest lying vibrational modes of
s
wavelength have frequencies given by dispersion relation of the form : ,
find the expression for the internal energy and the specific heat at a constant
volume by using the Debye approximation.