TEACHING PRACTICE ON BOUNDARY CONDITIONS OF TRANSLATIONAL MOTION IN STATISTICAL PHYSICS

In thermodynamics and statistical physics textbooks, when solving for the wave function of translational particles, one of the infinite-potential-well model and periodic boundary conditions is often arbitrarily chosen for the boundary conditions. Since the number of quantum states per unit energy interval obtained under the two boundary conditions is exactly the same, the specific form of the boundary conditions will not affect the results of statistical physics research. However, the choice of boundary conditions does have some impact on students’ understanding of the specific content of upstream and downstream courses, as some courses involve different conceptual applications. This paper suggests that in the course of thermodynamics and statistical physics, the scope of application of the two different boundary conditions should still be explained in detail.