SPECIFIC-HEAT REVISITED

The correlation between potential shape and specific heat is generally absent from textbook discussions. We present a detailed analysis of t he specific heat contribution due to independent particles subject to one-dimensional classical and quantum model potentials. For the classi cal models, we use phase space concepts to develop a clear physical in terpretation of the temperature dependence of the specific heat. For t he quantum models, we make the interpretation in terms of the differen ces in quantum levels. (C) 1996 American Association of Physics Teache rs.