Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-thermal-and-statistical-physics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/section-a/3/solution
Past exam of the thermal and statistical physics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 Section A 3 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Use the classical dilute-gas conventionso the second virial coefficient has units of volume. The Mayer f-function formula for an isotropic pair potential isOnly separations smaller than contribute. Define and substitute , so :This is the second virial coefficient of a bounded cubic repulsion. For every finite positive , , so . There is no finite positive Boyle temperature. At high temperature, expanding the exponential givesThus the intended limiting statement isAt the other extreme the classical expression tends to , the hard-exclusion value for separation . This is a check on the integral, not a claim that a real molecular gas stays classical at arbitrarily low temperature. A molar virial expansion would instead use .
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