degeneracy [ENDORSED]
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degeneracy
Can someone please explain more about the concept of degeneracy and how that relates to entropy?
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Re: degeneracy
Degeneracy is the number of different ways energy can exist. Degeneracy and entropy are directly related and therefore the higher the entropy the more number of ways energy can exist which means a higher degeneracy.
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Re: degeneracy
Degeneracy is basically the number of different ways energy can exist and the higher the entropy then the more the ways that energy can exist (proportional).
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Re: degeneracy
Degeneracy is the total number of ways of achieving a given energy state.
In the dogbone example Dr. Lavelle showed us, we could could calculate W with the info given by . N is the number of particles, molecules, etc., while the 2 was the number of equivalent states. So if there was 1 particle w/ 2 equivalent states, , as 1 particle can only have 2 possible positions here.
But with the 4 dogbones, we were given 2 particles w/ 2 equivalent states, , because the particles could be in positions A--B, B--A, AB--, --AB.
They are related directly via the Boltzman Equation,
As the degeneracy increases, entropy will also increase.
In the dogbone example Dr. Lavelle showed us, we could could calculate W with the info given by . N is the number of particles, molecules, etc., while the 2 was the number of equivalent states. So if there was 1 particle w/ 2 equivalent states, , as 1 particle can only have 2 possible positions here.
But with the 4 dogbones, we were given 2 particles w/ 2 equivalent states, , because the particles could be in positions A--B, B--A, AB--, --AB.
They are related directly via the Boltzman Equation,
As the degeneracy increases, entropy will also increase.
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Re: degeneracy
Degeneracy refers to the number of ways of obtaining a certain energy state. Degeneracy and entropy are inverses of each other. That is, the higher the degeneracy, the lower the entropy.
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Re: degeneracy [ENDORSED]
Degeneracy is the number of ways of achieving a given energy state. An example given in class was that a quarter has a degeneracy of 2 since it can either land on heads or tails. The higher the entropy, the higher amount of possible energy states.
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