PHYS 355 Thermal Physics

Analysis of laws of thermodynamic equilibria in solid, liquid, and gaseous phases; introduction to statistical mechanics in terms of the microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles.

Prerequisites: PHYS 152, MATH 241

There are two main activities to this course: learning the basic physical concepts of statistical physics (with the appropriate mathematical tools) and learning to read and present the content in contemporary physics research articles.

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Useful Information

Class Time

MWF 10:15 - 11:20

Location
P-204
Instructor
Dr. Wells

Course Materials

Course Syllabus

Homework Assignments

Useful Links

Verlinde's Paper

Installing (and using!) LaTeX

arXiv

Harvard's ADS Abstract Service

Inspire

Critical Point Opalescence!! (Video made in class by Tyler Reynolds)

"Since a given system can never of its own accord go over into another equally probable state but into a more probable one, it is likewise impossible to construct a system of bodies that after traversing various states returns periodically to its original state, that is a perpetual motion machine."

-Ludwig Boltzmann

"One of the principal objects of theoretical research in my department of knowledge is to find the point of view from which the subject appears in its greatest simplicity."

-Josiah Willard Gibbs