Thermal Physics 330, Spring 2017, Course Syllabus
Physics 330 gives an introduction to thermal and statistical
physics and is appropriate for all math and science majors who have completed
the prerequisite courses.
Thermal Physics surveys phenomena in which temperature and heat play
important roles. At the most basic level, it is approached through
study of general relationships among variables such as energy, volume, temperature,
and pressure, a subject known at thermodynamics. Einstein famously
asserted that, of all physics laws, the laws of thermodynamics would never
be overthrown. Real material systems, such as a gas in a room
or atoms in a crystal, are composed of vast numbers of identical microscopic
entities that interact with each other, exchanging energy in collisions.
The collision rates are enormous and, left to itself, the whole system
eventually reaches an equilibrium state characterized by physical variables
that are extensive, such as the energy and volume of the system, and intensive,
such as temperature and pressure. Thermodynamic variables fluctuate
about mean values, but for macroscopic systems composed of, say, 10^23
atoms or other entities, the fluctuations are normally negligibly small.
To study the behavior of a system, one models how the entities interact.
This is statistical mechanics and results that follow from the models are
used to predict properties of materials such as specific heats or how the
magnetization of a ferromagnet changes with temperature. The goal of
Phys 330 will be to learn to use methods of thermodynamics and statistical
mechanics and to apply them to a broad range of systems, including gases,
semiconductors, metals and insulators, magnetic matrials, superconductors,
superfluids. Phase transitions and critical phenomena will also be
studied, an application area in which fluctuations can be very large.
Course Catalog Listing
330 Thermal Physics 3 Course Prerequisite: MATH 273 or 283; PHYSICS
202 or 206. Thermal behavior of systems; energy and entropy; equations
of state; changes of phase; elements of continuum and statistical approaches.
Typically offered in Spring.
Expected outcome
By the end of the course you should have attained a sound understanding
of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics and be able to apply them
to understand a broad range of material phenomena and as well to address
societal problems such as global warming, the pivotal problem of our time.
In brief
Instructor:
Professor Gary S. Collins, office Webster 554, (509)
335-1354.
Class hours:
TTh, 13:25- 14:40, Webster Physical Sciences 11.
Office hours: right
after class, whenever my office door is open, or by appointment.
Problem solving sessions: organized as needed.
My university email: mailto:collins@wsu.edu
(please include "330..." somewhere in the subject line).
Required text: Statistical
and Thermal Physics: With Computer Applications, Harvey Gould & Jan
Tobochnik
Hardcover | 2010 | Princeton
| ISBN: 9780691137445, 550 pages.
Available free in pdf, with computer
simulations, at http://www.compadre.org/stp/
or http://stp.clarku.edu/
Blackboard site: https://learn.wsu.edu/ (contents
for enrolled students)
Syllabus:
http://www.wsu.edu/~collins/330/syllabus.pdf
(draft, not updated)
Schedule:
http://www.wsu.edu/~collins/330/schedule.pdf
(draft, not updated)
Other resources
Enrolled students have access to class notes, homework and exam solutions,
and other resources online at the Blackboard learning management
systems at WSU. Go to http://learn.wsu.edu.
January 10, 2017. This
page is http://www.wsu.edu/~collins/330.
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