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American Journal of Physics -- November 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 11, pp. 1142

Heat capacity in bits

P. Fraundorf1,2

1Department of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Molecular Electronics, University of Missouri, St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63121
2Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130

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The temperature T may be expressed as the rate of energy increase per unit increase in the state uncertainty under no-work conditions. The consequences of such a choice for heat capacities are explored. I show that the ratio of the total thermal energy E to kT is the multiplicity exponent (log–log derivative of the multiplicity) with respect to energy, as well as the number of base-b units of mutual information that is lost about the state of the system per b-fold increase in the thermal energy. Similarly, the no-work heat capacity CV is the multiplicity exponent for temperature, making CV independent of the choice of the intensive parameter associated with energy (for example, kT vs 1/kT) to within a constant, and explaining why its usefulness may go beyond the detection of thermodynamic phase changes and quadratic modes. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.

© 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers

KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

specific heat, teaching, temperature

PACS

  • 01.50.-i

    Educational aids

  • 05.70.Ce

    Thermodynamic functions and equations of state

  • 51.30.+i

    Thermodynamic properties, equations of state

  • 65.00.00

    Thermal properties of condensed matter

RELATED DATABASES

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History
Received Jul 2002
Accepted Jun 2003
Online Oct 2003

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0002-9505 (print)  

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Association of Physics Teachers

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.1593658

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