Chapter 17, Problem 17.52E

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The ratio of the partition functions at the same volume and temperature for a $\text{mol}$ of ${}^{\text{12}}\text{C}\left(\text{g}\right)$ and ${}^{\text{13}}\text{C}\left(\text{g}\right)$ is to be stated and the one having larger value of $q$ is to be determined.

Concept introduction:

Statistical thermodynamics is used to describe all possible configurations in a system at given physical quantities such as pressure, temperature and number of particles in the system. An important quantity in thermodynamics is partition function that is represented as,

$q={\left(\frac{2\pi mkT}{h^2}\right)}^{3/2}\cdot V$

It is used to calculate the state functions like energy, pressure, wavelength etc. of the thermodynamic system. The expressions obtained for state functions using partition functions help to determine the statistical aspect of thermodynamic system.