## Degeneracy

$\Delta S = \frac{q_{rev}}{T}$

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Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:16 am

### Degeneracy

I understand that degeneracy is the number of ways that a given energy state is achieved but what exactly is degeneracy used for?

KnarGeghamyan1B
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Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:15 am

### Re: Degeneracy

Degeneracy can be used to describe systems when the systems are of different states, such as solid, liquid, or gas, but equal in energy levels.

asannajust_1J
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### Re: Degeneracy

Degeneracy is a way to quantify the possible number of positions a particular species can form. In relation to entropy, it can be seen as the number of Microstates/positions that are possible for a particular system.

Charlene Datu 2E
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Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 12:16 am

### Re: Degeneracy

asannajust_1J wrote:Degeneracy is a way to quantify the possible number of positions a particular species can form. In relation to entropy, it can be seen as the number of Microstates/positions that are possible for a particular system.

How do you determine the number of positions/microstates?

Kylie Lim 4G
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Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:15 am

### Re: Degeneracy

In class we determined the number of microstates by using the equation 2^N, where N is the number of atoms and 2 represents a 2-state system

Vincent Leong 2B
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### Re: Degeneracy

Degeneracy is directly related to entropy and helps find positional entropy. With entropy solved, we can use delta H and entropy in an equation we'll learn later on to determine whether an equation is spontaneous or not.

705302428
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Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 12:16 am

### Re: Degeneracy

We use the equation n^2. We use 2 because it's a two-state system and N represents the number of particles.

Kylie Lim 4G
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Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:15 am

### Re: Degeneracy

W, degeneracy is used in the equation S = kB*ln(W) to find the residual or positional entropy of a system

CameronDis2K
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Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2019 12:18 am

### Re: Degeneracy

For this course, it can be used to calculate entropy via the Boltzmann equation, that is S = Kb * ln W, where W is the degeneracy. In general larger molecules will have greater degeneracy. However, this equation has a lot of error associated with it, as its relying on a whole number and a defined value to calculate the entropy value.

Leila_4G
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Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: Degeneracy

Isn't degeneracy used for the entropy equation (S=kBlnW)?