Syllabus for Thermal Physics, Fall of 2011 Instructor: Yih-Yuh Chen Grading Policy: 1.

Midterm: 30%, to be held on (Tuesday) November 8, 2011 2. Final: 35%, to be held on (Tuesday) January 3, 2012 (one week earlier than the school recommended) 3. Homework 20%. No late homework accepted. 4. Term Report 15%. Must be hand-written by yourself, with a topic related to this course and a length of more than 1000 words, and handed in before January 3, 2011. Textbook: Ashley H. Carter, Classical and Statistical Thermodynamics (2000) Other References: 1. D. V. Schroeder, An Introduction to Thermal Physics (1999) 2. M. W. Zemansky and R. H. Dittman, Heat and Thermodynamics, 7th ed. (1996) Content to be covered: We will mainly focus on classical thermodynamics, with a sprinkle of statistical physics here and there, leaving the statistical part mainly for another course (Intro. To Statistical Physics). The following is a free adaptation of the table of content from the textbook. As in all the courses I have taught before, the coverage of the topics might deviate from this list, depending partly on the pace and the acceptance of the audience. Anything left behind will be taken up in the next semester when Intro. To Statistical Physics is offered. 1. A Highly Biased and Simplified Timeline 2. The Nature of Thermodynamics So Few for So Many Temperature and the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics Thermometers and Some Temperature Scales 2. Equations of State Boyle, Amontons, Charles, Gay-Lussac, and Clapeyron Equation of State of an Ideal Gas

Van der Waals' Equation for a Real Gas P-v-T Surfaces for Real Substances Expansivity and Compressibility 3. The First Law of Thermodynamics Work and Internal Energy Heat The Mechanical Equivalent of Heat 4. Applications of the First Law Heat Capacity Mayer's Equation Enthalpy 5. Consequences of the First Law The Gay-Lussac-Joule Experiment The Joule-Thomson Experiment Heat Engines and the Carnot Cycle 6. The Second Law of Thermodynamics The Concept of Entropy Reversible and Irreversible Processes Carnot's Theorem The Clausius Inequality and the Second Law Entropy and Available Energy Absolute Temperature Combined First and Second Laws Otto and Diesel 7. Applications of the Second Law Entropy Changes in Reversible Processes Entropy Change of the Surroundings for a Reversible Process Entropy Change for an Ideal Gas The Tds Equations Newton and the Speed of Sound Entropy Change in Irreversible Processes Free Expansion of an Ideal Gas Entropy Change for a Liquid or Solid

8. Thermodynamic Potentials. All Those Wonderful Partial Derivatives The Legendre Transformation Definition of the Thermodynamic Potentials The Maxwell Relations The Helmholtz Function and the Gibbs Function Application of the Gibbs Function to Phase Transitions Van der Waals again, with Maxwells construction An Application of the Maxwell Relations Conditions of Stable Equilibrium 9. The Chemical Potential and Open Systems The Chemical Potential Phase Equilibrium The Gibbs Phase Rule Mixing Processes A Little Bit of Chemistry 10. The Third Law of Thermodynamics Statements of the Third Law Methods of Cooling Consequences of the Third Law 11. Critical Phenomena Some Observations Phenomenological Model of Ginzburg and Landau 12. Thermoelectric Effects Seebeck, Peltier, and Thomson 13. The Kinetic Theory of Gases Gas Pressure and the Ideal Gas Law Equipartition of Energy: A Preview Specific Heat Capacity of an Ideal Gas A Cloud Shadowing the Sky of 19th Century Physics Distribution of Molecular Speeds, A Simple Derivation Mean Free Path and Collision Frequency

Effusion Transport Processes 14. Statistical Thermodynamics Coin-Tossing Experiment Application to Brownian Motion Distinguishing Them or Not, That Is the Question Thermodynamic Probability and Entropy Quantum States and Energy Levels Density of Quantum States. 15. Classical and Quantum Statistics. Boltzmann Statistics The Method of Lagrange Multipliers The Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution The Fermi-Dirac Distribution The Bose-Einstein Distribution Dilute Gases and the Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution The Connection between Classical and Statistical Thermodynamics Comparison of the Distributions 16. The Classical Statistical Treatment of an Ideal Gas. Thermodynamic Properties from the Partition Function Partition Function for a Gas Properties of a Monatomic Ideal Gas Applicability of the Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution Distribution of Molecular Speeds, Yet Another Derivation Equipartition of Energy: The Classical Derivation Entropy Change of Mixing Revisited Maxwell's Demon. 17. The Black Body Radiation Kirchhoffs Investigation Stefan-Boltzmann Law Wiens Analysis and Guess Rayleighs Insight Planck, and How the Puzzle Was Solved

18. The Heat Capacity of a Diatomic Gas. The Translational Motion Rotational Modes of Diatomic Molecules The Quantified Linear Oscillator and the Vibrational Modes of Diatomic Molecules Electronic Excitation The Total Heat Capacity. 19. The Heat Capacity of a Solid Dulong-Petit Rule Einstein's Theory of the Heat Capacity of a Solid Debye's Theory of the Heat Capacity of a Solid