Boltzmann Distribution from a Microcanonical Ensemble Model Documents

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Main Document

Boltzmann Distribution from a Microcanonical Ensemble Model 

written by Larry Engelhardt and Norman Chonacky

The Boltzmann Distribution From A Microcanonical Ensemble Model allows students and instructors to explore why the Boltzmann distribution has its characteristic exponential shape.  In this model, particles have only one degree of freedom–the energy to move in one dimension. Further, the density of accessible states is chosen to be uniform –i.e. each state is equally probable.  Starting with a system of N=2 particles, you are able to generate simple empirical results for the distribution of energies among the individual particles.  Then you can observe how this distribution changes with increasing N, gradually approaching the Boltzmann distribution.  

The Boltzmann Distribution From A Microcanonical Ensemble Model was developed using the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) modeling tool.  It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive.   Double clicking the ejs_fmu_BoltzmannDistribution_PartitioningEnergy.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.  You can modify this simulation if you have EJS installed by right-clicking within the map and selecting "Open Ejs Model" from the pop-up menu item.

Last Modified November 22, 2011

Supplemental Documents

Discrete Boltzmann Distribution Model 

A discrete version of the Microcanonical Boltzmann Distribution Model, which partitions energy as discrete quanta rather than allowing the energy to be distribute continuously.

Last Modified August 4, 2014

This file has previous versions.

Source Code Documents (2)

Boltzmann Distribution from a Microcanonical Ensemble Source Code 

The source code zip archive contains an EJS-XML representation of the Boltzmann Distribution from a Microcanonical Ensemble Model.   Unzip this archive in your EJS workspace to compile and run this model using EJS.

Last Modified November 22, 2011

This file has previous versions.

Discrete Boltzmann Distribution Source Code 

The source code zip archive contains an EJS-XML representation of the Discrete Boltzmann Distribution Model.   Unzip this archive in your EJS workspace to compile and run this model using EJS.

Last Modified August 4, 2014