Question

What does Boltzmann distribution tell us?

(a) Energy levels

(b) Distribution of molecules at different energy levels

(c) Distribution of electrons in a molecule

(d) Magnitude of different energy levels of a molecule

This question was addressed to me in examination.

I would like to ask this question from Boltzmann Distribution in section Properties of High Temperature Gases of Aerodynamics

Answer 1

The correct choice is (b) Distribution of molecules at different energy levels

To elaborate: The Boltzmann distribution is a probability distribution of how molecules are at different energy levels. It is given by:

N\(_j^*\) = N\(\frac {g_j e^{- \frac {ε_j^{‘}}{kT}}}{∑_jg_j e^{ – \frac {ε_j^{‘}}{kT}}} \)

Where, ε\(_j^{‘}\) is total energy

gj are the degenerate states

N are the number of molecules