Statistical mechanics of solid and liquid mixtures of ortho- and para-hydrogen

Abstract

It is known from experimental measurements that the configurational free energy of solid and liquid mixtures of p-H₂ and o-H₂ is approximately of the form where is the mole fraction of o-H₂. Assuming that this dependence of F _conf on is due solely to orientational forces a quantum-mechanical calculation of F _conf is developed which is valid for moderately low temperatures. A simplified statistical model is used consisting of a rigid lattice. The theoretical free energy obtained is however much smaller than the experimental one probably on account of the crudeness of the model. Various refinements are discussed.