A monatomic ideal gas at high temperature T in a discharge tube has a triply degenerate excited state at an energy e above the ground state.
a. Find the ratio population of the excited state to that of the ground state.
b. Apply your result to helium in a discharge tube at a temperature of 104 K.
c. The ground state of the helium atom is non-degenerate, whereas the first excited state at 19.8 eV above the ground state is triple degenerate.