Chronology | Current Month | Current Thread | Current Date |
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] | [Date Index] [Thread Index] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] | [Date Prev] [Date Next] |
I am teaching thermo for the first time and using Keith Stowe "Intro.
to Stat. Mech. and Thermo." I have some questions about chemical
potential, that I hope Dan Schroeder and others on this list can
answer or help me get started on. I have been mulling over them for a
while.
In his discussion of the First Law, he writes the total internal energy as:
E = E_thermal + N*mu -(1)
where N is the number of molecules and mu is the chemical potential.
Here, the thermal energy is neither the internal energy nor heat, but
is the equipartition energy:
E_thermal = N*nkT/2 -(2)
....
We thus conclude that:
e(ice) - e(vapor) = 3kT/2 in phase equilibrium
which is completely wrong. It doesn't even have the right sign, much
less agree with the (negative of the) latent heat of sublimation per
molecule which is what the left-hand side is supposed to give.
I have several more questions about chemical potential, but it seems
like the above is a crucial first step in trying to sort out what
Stowe is doing. Thanks, Carl