Thermodynamic Functions of Quasi-Equilibrium Thermal Plasma Systems

Thermodynamic Functions of Quasi-Equilibrium Thermal Plasma Systems 

Finding out the thermodynamic plasma properties first reqtrires a statistical calcrrlation of partition functiorrs (Pathria, 1996). The partition function g of an eqtrilibritrm particle system at temperatrrre T can be expressed as a statistical sirm over states 5 of the particle with energies and statistical weights gs  

Translational and internal degrees of freedom of the particles of a chemical component / can be considered independently. Therefore, their energy can be expressed as a sum Es = and the partition function for plasma volume Fas a product  

Translational partition function (3-19) corresponds to continuous-spectrum statistical weight the partition functions of internal degrees of freedom depend on the system characteristics more specifically (Landau Lifshitz, 1980). A particular numerical example of the partition functions of nitrogen atoms and ions (Boulos et al., 1994) is presented in Fig. 3-1. Plasma thermodynamic functions can be calculated based on total partition function gtot of all the particles in the equilibrium system. For example, the Helmholtz free energy F, related to a reference free energy, Fq, can be found as 

Assuming weak interaction between particles, the total partition function can be expressed as a product of partition functions of a single particle of a chemical component i  

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