Direct Measurements of Chemical Potential Using computer simulations

Abstract

When two systems of particles are in contact and allow the transfer of particles between them, they will eventually reach what is called diffusive equilibrium. Diffusive equilibrium means the two systems have the same chemical potential. Chemical potential, µ, is a measure of how willing a system is to give up a particle to another system. The purpose of our research was to directly measure the chemical potential of a computer-simulated system. To do this we used a Monte Carlo algorithm called the Demon algorithm to measure the chemical potential of two different simulated models that will be explained later. The Demon algorithm works like a thermometer to measure the temperature of a system. We wanted to use the Demon in a similar manner to measure the chemical potential of a system.