Updates and Corrections to the Solutions to Statistical and Thermal Physics

by Harvey Gould and Jan Tobochnik

Problem Correction
2.51 Equation (2.54b) should be
= (2)(8.314)(300) ln 10 = 11486 J (2.54b)
2.55 In the problem statement ideal gas should be monatomic ideal gas in part (a). Also
change increase the volume to increase the volume to V
2
in part (d).
3.38(a) The limits of the integral in Eq. (S3.47)should be 1 and 1:
x
2
=
1
2
_
1
1
x
2
dx =
1
3
. (S3.47)
3.40 In the problem statement p(v
x
) = (a/)
3/2
e
av
2
x
should be p(v
x
) = (a/)
1/2
e
av
2
x
. In
part (b) the left-hand side of Eq. (S3.56) should be p(v
x
, v
y
, v
z
) dv
x
dv
y
dv
z
.
3.42 The value for C
4
in Eq. (S3.61) should be
C
4
=
a
4
5
0 3
_
a
2
3
_
2
+ 0 0 =
2
15
a
4
. (3.61)
4.4(b) Equation (S4.3) should be
(N = 4, E = 6) =
9!
6! 3!
=
(9)(8)(7)
(3)(2)
= 84. (S4.3)
4.11 Equation (S4.10) is missing a parenthesis and should be

qm
(E) =
2L
h
_
2m
_
144 h
2
8mL
2
__
1/2
= 12. (S4.10)
4.18 In Eq. (S4.17), (3/2)(N 1)/N should be replaced by [(3N/2) 1]/N. Thus, in the next
sentence (N 1)/N 1 should be replaced by
_
3
2
N 1

/N 3/2. We thank Jerey Sudol

for pointing out this error.
4.29(c) N = 30 should be N = 40.
4.29(d) N = 30 should be N = 40.
4.30 Equation (S4.34) should read
E
d
=

ln
_

0
e
E
d
dE
d
=

ln
1
=
1

= kT. (S4.34)
4.38(a) Equation (S4.40) should be

B
=
16!
9! 7!
= 11440. (S4.40)
So the initial total number of microstates is =
A

B
= 45760.
4.42 Equation (S4.52a) is missing parentheses and should read
T =
2
3Nk
_
E +
N
2
a
V
_
(S4.52a)
4.45 The pressure should be P = kT ln Z/V = kT/V .
4.49 The problem statement refers to microstates 1 and 2, but the solution refers to microstates
0 and 1. Hence P
0
P
1
and P
1
P
2
in the solution.
Problem Correction
5.6(c) Equation (S5.15d) is missing ln in the rst term in the brackets. Equation (S5.15e) is missing
a factor of Nk outside the brackets. In Eq. (S5.15f) upper case K should be lower case.
Also the rst exponential in the second parentheses within the brackets has the wrong sign
in the exponent.
5.36(a) In the statement of the problem replace the last sentence with Each spin interacts once with
each horizontal or vertical nearest neighbor. (Toroidal boundary conditions are redundant
for a 2 2 lattice.)
6.19 The reference to Eq. (6.119c) just before Eq. (S6.58) should be Eq. (6.86). In Eq. (S6.61)

k
should be replaced by . Also du is missing a factor of d.
6.37 In the statement of the problem the references to the left-hand side of (6.211b) should be
to the right-hand side of (6.211b).
6.28 Equation (6.157) should be
=
(2m)
3/2
V
2
2

3
_

F
0
d
1/2
_

F
_
. (6.157)
6.55 Equation (S6.221b) should be
= (3
2
)
2/3
(1.05 10
34
)
2
2(1.67 10
27
)
_
1.2 10
57
8 10
12
_
2/3
= 9 10
12
J. (S6.221b)
Updated 18 November 2011.