Suppose you have two containers, each containing Hydrogen and Oxygen. The first

Question

Suppose you have two containers, each containing Hydrogen and Oxygen. The first container is such that its walls allow heat exchange with the environment, while the second container isolates the gas from the outside. Write down the variables with which you would describe the two systems and say whether the variables are intensive or extensive.

Containers are not in contact to each other.

Both containers have the two gases: Hydrogen and Oxygen.

Specify whether the variables are intensive or extensive.

Explanation / Answer

Intensive variable: An intensive variable is one which does not depend on system size (like temperature, pressure, or density).

Extensive variable: An extensive variable is one which depends on system size (like mass or volume).

The first system is a canonical ensemble and any canonical ensemble can be described by its temperature(T), volume (V) and number of particles(N). So according to the definition of intensive and extensive variable we can say that T is an intensive variable and the other two(V,N) are extensive.

Now the second system is a micro canonical system and we can describe any micro canonical system by its internal energy (E), volume (V) and number of particles(N).Here all the three variables are extensive.

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