Section A Flashcards
Understand the concepts of micro states, configurations and macro states and, in particular, the idea of the predominant configuration
1
Q
Why is statistical thermodynamics useful?
A
Helps us to predict values of the change in gibbs free energy and equlibrium constants for all reactions
2
Q
Distinct particles
A
You can tell which particle is which, i.e. they can be labelled.
3
Q
Microstate
A
- specifies each individual particle in the system and where they are in the system (energy level) at any instant of time
- not direcltly observed
4
Q
configuration
A
- specifies how many particles are in which energy level at any instant of time
- not directly observed
5
Q
Macrostate
A
- what we observe in experiments (E, S, H, V and T)
- many microstates contribute to the macrostate and many microstates are visited over the course of an experiment, or simulation
6
Q
individual particles
A
have states (energy levels) with energies, E0, E1…
7
Q
Instantaneous configuration
A
At any instant there will be x number of particles with corresponding energy, e.g. x1 has E1
8
Q
Equal a priori Probability of configuartions
A
- Configurations do noat affect macroscopic values
- ## each configuration will will be visited in proportion to its statistical weight (equal a priori)
9
Q
The dominating configuration
A
- the observed conformation will be the most probable one
- properties of the system will thus be characteristic of the most probable/ dominating configuration
- this configuration can be found by looking for values of ni that lead to maximum weight
10
Q
Conservation of particles and energy
A
- we assume the total E is constant
- must also assume that total number of particles is fixed
11
Q
The boltzman distribution
A
The populations in the configurations of greatest weight deoend on the energy of the state
