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Statistical Thermodynamics - Spring 2017


(Statistical Thermodynamics - Fall 2012)
Material covered:

(Syllabus)

Week Tuesday Thursday
Jan 30 Methods of Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics. Definitions of thermodynamics. Temperature. Equation of state. Thermodynamic coefficients. Work. Internal energy. First law of thermodynamics. Heat. Heat capacity. Mayer's equation.
Feb 6 The adiabatic equation. Heat machines. Carnot cycle. College closed because of a blizzard
Feb 13 Entropy at equilibrium. Thermodynamic potentials. Thermodynamic relations. Entropy of the ideal gas. Adiabatic thermodynamic coefficients. Third law of thermodynamics. Systems with variable mass, chemical potential. Thermodynamic stability.
Feb 20 Second law of thermodynamics. Carnot's theorem.  Entropy increase in irreversible processes. Molecular theory of the ideal gas. Basic assumptions. Characteristic lengths. Velocity and speed distribution function. Molecular flux. Pressure due to molecular impact.
Feb 27 Relation between temperature and average kinetic energy. Heat capacity of the ideal gas. Degrees of freedom. Maxwell-Boltzmann disctribution. Characteristic speeds of molecules. Problem solving
Mar 6 Midterm test 1 Statistical physics. Classical vs. quantum approaches. Quantum states and equidistribution assumption. Combinatorics and thermodynamic probability. Coin tossing experiment. Stirling formula
Mar 13 Combinatorics of multistate particles. Degeneracy. Thermodynamic probability and entropy. Quantization. Formalism of quantum mechanics. Eigenvalue problems for matrices and differential operators. Stationary Schrödinger equation. Particle in a rigid box. Degeneracy. Density of states.
Mar 20 Boltzmann statistics. Relation between statistical parameters and thermodynamic quantities. Statistical thermodynamics of the ideal gas
Mar 27 Statistical mechanics of harmonic oscillators Average quantum number of the harmonic oscillator as a particular case of the Bose-Einstein distribution. Statistical mechanics of rotators
Apr 3 Solid as a collection of harmonic oscillators. Sound waves in a box. Phonons. Density of states. Heat capacity of solids. Einstein and Debye theories.
Apr 10 Spring Recess Spring Recess
Apr 17 Spring Recess Spins in magnetic field. Energy levels and partition function.
Apr 24 Spins in magnetic field. Brillouin function, heat capacity, and magnetic susceptibility. Systems of indistinguishable particles. Spin and statistics. Bosons and fermions. Bose condensation.
May 1 Energy, heat capacity, and pressure of the Bose gas. Fermi gas at zero temperature. Degenerate Fermi gas at nonzero temperatures. Heat capacity of the degenerate Fermi gas
May 8    
May 15 Solving problems Midterm test 2

 
Problem sets:
Problems 01 02 03 04 05
Solutions 01 02 03 04 05

   
Books
 
1. Ashley H. Carter, Classical and Statistical Thermodynamics
2. F. Reif, Statistical Physics

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