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Syllabus
PHYS 341 and BMME 341 Fall Semester, 2014
Instructor: Professor Yue WuOffice Hours: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm,
MWFOffice: Chapman Hall, Room 341
Phone: (919) 962-0307
E-mail: [email protected]
Lectures: MWF 3:00 p.m.-3:50 p.m.
Lecture Room: Phillips 265
Text Book: An Introduction to Thermal Physics, by Daniel V.
Schroeder, 1steditionFinal Exam: Saturday at 4 pm, December 6,
2014.
Course Description
This class presents the basic concepts of thermodynamics and its
applications. In
addition, statistical mechanics will also be taught at an
introductory level. The emphasis
is on using thermodynamics and statistical mechanics to
understand a broad range ofproblems in physics and physical
chemistry with adequate mathematical tools.
Work Expected
1. HomeworkHomework will be assigned each Friday and is due the
next Friday in class.
Homework grading: Each question is assigned 10 points.
2. Two midterm exams3. Final exam
Grading
The final grade will be weighted according to:
Homework: 30%
Two midterm exams: 30%
Final exam: 40%
SchedulesDate Chapters Topics
Aug 20 1.1, 1.2, Thermal equilibrium, the ideal gas,
Aug 22 1.3, 1.4 Equipartition of energy, heat and work
Aug 25 1.5, 1.6 Compression work, heat capacitiesAug 27 1.7
Rates of processes
Aug 29 2.1, 2.2 Two-state systems, Einstein model of a solid
Sept 1 No class, Labor Day
Sept 3 2.3, 2.4 Interacting systems, large systems
Sept 5 2.5 The ideal gas
Sept 8 2.6 Entropy
Sept 10 3.1 Temperature
Sept 12 3.2 Entropy and heat
Sept 15 3.3 Paramagnetism
Sept 17 3.4 Mechanical equilibrium and pressure
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Sept 19 3.5, 3.6 Diffusive equilibrium and chemical potential,
summary
Sept 22 4.1 Heat engines
Sept 24 4.2 Refrigerators
Sept 26 4.3, 4.4 Real heat engines, real refrigeratorsSept 29
Midterm I Covered materials: Chapters 1, 2, and 3.
Oct 1 5.1 Free energy and available work
Oct 3 5.1 Free energy and available work
Oct 6 5.2 Free energy as a force toward equilibrium
Oct 8 5.3 Phase transformation of pure substances
Oct 10 5.3 Phase transformation of pure substances
Oct 13 5.4 Phase transformations of mixtures
Oct 15 5.5 Dilute solutions
Oct 17 No class, fall Break
Oct 20 5.6 Chemical equilibrium
Oct 22 6.1 The Boltzmann factorOct 24 6.2 Average values
Oct 27 6.3, 6.4 The equipartition theorem, the Maxwell speed
distribution
Oct 29 6.5 Partition functions and free energy
Oct 31 6.6 Partition functions for composite systems
Nov 3 Midterm II Covered materials: Chapters 4, 5, and 6.1,
6.2.
Nov 5 6.7 Ideal gas revisited
Nov 7 7.1 The Gibbs factor
Nov 10 7.2 Bosons and Fermions
Nov 12 7.3 Degenerate Fermi gases
Nov 14 7.4 Blackbody radiation
Nov 17 7.4 Blackbody radiation
Nov 19 7.5 Debye theory of solidsNov 21 7.6 Bose-Einstein
condensation
Nov 24 8.1 Weakly interacting gases
Nov 26 Thanksgiving Break
Nov 28 No class
Dec 1 8.2 The Ising model of a ferromagnet
Dec 3 Review
Dec 6 Final Exam 4 pm, cumulative
