A Statistical Mechanical Analysis of Energy and Entropy

TCE

The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

Table of Contents

Abstract Volume 8 Issue 1 (2003) pp 70-75

A Statistical Mechanical Analysis of Energy and Entropy

Kevin Gardner, Edward Croker, and Sharmistha Basu-Dutt*

Department of Chemistry, State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA 30118, sbdutt@westga.edu
Received September 19, 2002. Accepted November 4, 2002

Published online: 15 January 2003

Abstract. In this paper, we propose a dry laboratory suitable for the undergraduate student to bridge together concepts developed in two semesters of physical chemistry using statistical mechanics. Macroscopic properties such as energy and entropy of simple gaseous systems are studied as a function of temperature and related to the microscopic constitution of the molecules using a commercially available computational chemistry software package such as Spartan (Wavefunction, Inc.).

Key Words: Computers in Chemistry; physical chemistry; computational chemistry; thermodynamics

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: sbdutt@westga.edu)

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