Question

Consider a system composed of four harmonic oscillators. The energy of the ground state is E0/2. The distribution of oscillators in each system is described by the set following distributions {Ni} 

Distribution I: N0=2, N1=1 N2=1, N3=0 

Distribution II: N0=1, N1=3 N2=N3=0 

Distribution III: N0=3 N1=N2=0 N3=1

For each distribution, calculate.

1. The energy of each system and the average energy

2. The number of equivalent particle arrangements W that yield equivalent distributions (assume the particles are distinguishable), or degeneracy, of each distribution

3. The absolute entropy S of each distribution; which distribution is the most likely to occur?

4. Do any of these distributions correspond to thermodynamic equilibrium? If not, state the condition for thermodynamic equilibrium

Answer 1