Past exam of the thermal and statistical physics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / Section A / 1

Use the Gibbs-Duhem equation for a homogeneous, extensive, single-component thermodynamic phase:At fixed temperature, this becomes $dp=nd\mu$, with number density $n=N/V$. Separately, at fixed particle number,The chain rule along the same isothermal process in the equation of state now givesConsequentlyThis is isothermal compressibility from chemical-potential response. Since chemical potential has units of energy per particle, the right-hand side has units of volume per energy, or $\mathrm{P}{\mathrm{a}}^{-1}$, as required. The derivation assumes a smooth bulk equation of state; changing the fractions of coexisting thermodynamic phases at fixed pressure needs separate treatment.