Hello all,
The question may seem naive , but I would like to seek some clarification reg the following:
a. What is difference between statistical and non statistical thermodynamics? Is non statistical thermodynamics same as classical one?
b. What is difference between classical statistical and quantum statistical thermodynamics?
Thank You
Deewakar
The qualifier ``statistical'' refers to the microscopic degrees of freedom, whose macroscopic properties are described by thermodynamics. And the conventional terms are statistical mechanics, when referring to the properties of the degrees of freedom themselves and thermodynamics when referring to the collective manifestations, that don't depend on the properties of the degrees of freedom themselves: temperature is a thermodynamic quantity-that it can be described as the average value of the kinetic energy of microscopic degrees of freedom is the result of a statistical description of the latter and one may then ask, whether such degrees of freedom can, indeed, be found, or are they just bookkeping inventions. It turns out that they can be assigned physical meaning.
If the microscopic degrees of freedom are described by classical physics, then the statistical mechanics is classical; else it's quantum.
This is standard material in physics courses, e.g. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-333-statistical-mechanics-i-statistical-mechanics-of-particles-fall-2013/
@Stam:
May you please elaborate little bit more on:
"If the microscopic degrees of freedom are described by classical physics, then the statistical mechanics is classical; else it's quantum."
Thanks
There's not much to elaborate-if the individual degrees of freedom are quantum, the multiparticle states have quantum statistics, if the one-particle states are classical, the multiparticle states have classical statistics.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Physical Sciences
- Thermodynamics