Molecules property derivation from partition functions

The partition function provides the bridge to calculating thermodynamic quantities of interest. Using the molecular partition function and formulas derived in this section, we will be able to calculate the internal energy E, the heat capacity Cp, and the entropy S of a gas from fundamental properties of the molecule, such as its mass, moments of inertia, and vibrational frequencies. Thus, if thermodynamic data are lacking for a species of interest, we usually know, or can estimate, these molecular constants, and we can calculate reasonably accurate thermodynamic quantities. In Section 8.6 we illustrate the practical application of the formulas derived here with a numerical example of the thermodynamic properties for the species CH3. 

With the development of Equation 5.12 relating the partition function and the macroscopic properties, all of the macroscopic thermodynamic properties may be derived from Equation 5.7. For example, differentiating In E with respect to the absolute activity (A.) of./, provides the total number of guest molecules J over all the cavities i... 

Hence, in the light of our both accounts of causality, the molecular dynamics model represents causal processes or chains of events. But is the derivation of a molecule s structure by a molecular dynamics simulation a causal explanation Here the answer is no. The molecular dynamics model alone is not used to explain a causal story elucidating the time evolution of the molecule s conformations. It is used to find the equilibrium conformation situation that comes about a theoretically infinite time interval. The calculation of a molecule s trajectory is only the first step in deriving any observable structural property of this molecule. After a molecular dynamics search we have to screen its trajectory for the energetic minima. We apply the Boltzmann distribution principle to infer the most probable conformation of this molecule.17 It is not a causal principle at work here. This principle is derived from thermodynamics, and hence is statistical. For example, to derive the expression for the Boltzmann distribution, one crucial step is to determine the number of possible realizations there are for each specific distribution of items over a number of energy levels. There is no existing explanation for something like the molecular partition function for a system in thermodynamic equilibrium solely by means of causal processes or causal stories based on considerations on closest possible worlds. 

The problem is to derive the equation of state and thermodynamic functions of a particular liquid crystal phase from properties of constituting molecules (a form, a polarizability, chirality, etc.). The problem we are going to discuss is one of the most difficult in physics of liquid crystals and the aim of this chapter is very modest just to introduce the reader to the basic ideas of the theory with the help of comprehensive works of the others [2, 5, 19]. To consider the problem quantitatively we need special methods of the statistical physics. In this context, the most useful function is free energy F, which is based microscopically rai the so-called partition function, see below. For the partition function, we need that energy spectrum of a molecular system, which is relevant to the problem imder cmisider-ation. The energy spectrum is related to the entropy of the system and we would like to recall the microscopic sense of the entropy. 

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