Paper 2, Section II, C

Statistical Physics
Part II, 2012

Explain what is meant by an isothermal expansion and an adiabatic expansion of a gas.

By first establishing a suitable Maxwell relation, show that

EVT=TpTVp\left.\frac{\partial E}{\partial V}\right|_{T}=\left.T \frac{\partial p}{\partial T}\right|_{V}-p

and

CVVT=T2pT2V\left.\frac{\partial C_{V}}{\partial V}\right|_{T}=\left.T \frac{\partial^{2} p}{\partial T^{2}}\right|_{V}

The energy in a gas of blackbody radiation is given by E=aVT4E=a V T^{4}, where aa is a constant. Derive an expression for the pressure p(V,T)p(V, T).

Show that if the radiation expands adiabatically, VT3V T^{3} is constant.