Influence of Non-Boltzmann Distributions on the Thermodynamics Properties of Gaseous Species

Abstract

A simple method of statistical thermodynamics is proposed that permits the quantitative estimation of the influence that non-Boltzmann distributions can have on the thermodynamic properties of gaseous species. After a brief recall of basic statistical definitions relative to entropy, energy, and population distributions, the method is described and successively applied to theoretical and experimental vibrational distributions of O 2 , N 2 , and CO selected from the literature. The results of the analysis are discussed and recommendations are proposed concerning possible approaches to deal with the situations in which the thermodynamic models based on the Boltzmann distribution are not applicable.