CAN AN IDEAL-GAS FEEL THE SHAPE OF ITS CONTAINER

Thermodynamic quantities of an ideal gas enclosed in a finite containe r are examined. We use an asymptotic expansion for high temperatures t o obtain the partition function of an ideal gas, both in two and three dimensions, showing the leading corrections to the internal energy du e to a finite container. In the three-dimensional case, the first corr ection term depends only on the area-volume ratio, but higher order te rms depend also on other geometric properties of the container. Howeve r, according to recent results, we show that the answer to the questio n posed in the title is negative. (C) 1997 American Association of Phy sics Teachers.