Each Cell Containsn molecules in Volume v. There are M such Cells and the Total energy of These m Cells is E Figure 7.2 Collection of M Identical Cells Having Energy Conducting Walls That Do Not Allow molecules to pass between Cell One of the fundamental assumptions of statistical mechanics is that, for a closed isolated system at equilibrium, all quantum states of the system having an energy equal to the energy e with which the system is prepared are equally likely to be occupied. This is called the assumption of equal a priori probability for such energy-allowed quantum states. The quantum states relevant to this case are not the states of individual molecules Nor are they the states of n of the molecules in one of the containers of volume V. They are the quantum states of the entire system comprised of NXM molecules Because our system consists of M identical containers, each with N molecules in it, we can describe PAGE 7PAGE 7 Figure 7.2 Collection of M Identical Cells Having Energy Conducting Walls That Do Not Allow Molecules to Pass Between Cell. One of the fundamental assumptions of statistical mechanics is that, for a closed isolated system at equilibrium, all quantum states of the system having an energy equal to the energy E with which the system is prepared are equally likely to be occupied. This is called the assumption of equal a priori probability for such energy-allowed quantum states. The quantum states relevant to this case are not the states of individual molecules. Nor are they the states of N of the molecules in one of the containers of volume V. They are the quantum states of the entire system comprised of NxM molecules. Because our system consists of M identical containers, each with N molecules in it, we can describe Each Cell Contains N molecules in Volume V. There are M such Cells and the Total Energy of These M Cells is E