Question

Consider a gas expansion problem for a doubling volume between initial and final states with three colored particles. What the number of ways the insides can be arranged for these three particles so that from the outside, the system looks the same.

a) 3
b) 6
c) 9
d) 12

Answer 1

The number of ways the three colored particles can be arranged so that from the outside the system looks the same is 6

Step-by-step explanation:

The number of ways the three colored particles can be arranged so that from the outside the system looks the same can be determined using the concept of microstates. In the given reference, it is mentioned that for a sample of four gas molecules in a two-bulb container, there are 16 different ways the molecules can be distributed in the bulbs, each corresponding to a particular microstate. In this case, we have three particles, so the number of ways will be different. To find the number of ways for three particles, we can use the same logic. Therefore, the correct answer is b) 6.