INFLUENCE OF NON-BOLTZMANN DISTRIBUTIONS ON THE THERMODYNAMICS PROPERTIES OF GASEOUS SPECIES

A simple method of statistical thermodynamics is proposed that permits the quantitative estimation of the influence that non-Boltzmann distr ibutions can have on the thermodynamic properties of gaseous species. After a brief recall of basic statistical definitions relative to entr opy, energy, and population distributions, the method is described and successively applied to theoretical and experimental vibrational dist ributions of O-2, N-2, and CO selected from the literature. The result s of the analysis are discussed and recommendations are proposed conce rning possible approaches to deal with the situations in which the the rmodynamic models based on the Boltzmann distribution are not applicab le.