PHYSICS 3513 - Thermal and Statistical Physics
Fall 2012

Instructor: Masahiro (Masa) Ishigami

Office Hours: MW 1:30-2:30 am Office: Physical Science, room 110
Email: lastname at ucf.edu
Webpage: http://physics.ucf.edu/~ishigami/Teaching.htm
Schedule and Location: MWF, 3:30-4:20 pm, in the Math and Physics Building, room 306.

Prerequisites: Physics for Scientists and Engineers III (PHY 3101) or equivalent. The course is aimed at junior and senior students in Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, and Biology. Other students interested in taking this course should consult with the instructor before registering.

Content:
1) Fundamentals: thermal equilibrium; the ideal gas; equipartition of energy; heat and work; the first law of Thermodynamics; heat capacities; enthalpy.
2) Statistical Mechanics and the second law of Thermodynamics: combinatorial analysis of simple systems; two-state systems, multi-state systems; ideal gas; entropy; reversible and irreversible processes.
3) The microscopy basis of Thermodynamics: thermodynamic potentials and relations; simple examples; thermal, diffusive, and chemical equilibria; paramagnetism.
4) Some applications: heat engines and refrigerators; Carnot cycle.
5) More applications: free energies and equilibrium; thermodynamic identities; phase transformations; van der Waals model.
6) Boltzmann statistics: Boltzmann factor; partition functions and free energies; averages; equipartition theorem, Maxwell's speed distribution; ideal gas revisited.
7) Basics of quantum statistics: bosons and fermions; degenerate Fermi gases; blackbody radiation; Bose-Einstein condensation.
8) Application of statistical and thermal physics: atmospheric physics and magnetism.

Textbook: An Introduction to Thermal Physics, by Daniel V. Schroeder (Addison Wesley Longman, 2000); ISBN 0-201-38027-7 (hard cover).

Grading: Final grades will be based on the homework average (25%), two mid-term exams (20% each) and a final exam (35%). Problem sets will be handed out every two weeks or so and graded with the same rigor as an exam. Grading will be done over a scale from 0 to 100. Final letter grades will be given according to the following grid: A (100-95), A- (94-90), B+ (89-84), B (83-78), B- (77-72), C+ (71-66), C (65-60), C- (59-54), D+ (53-48), D (47-42), D- (41-36), and F (35-0). Problem sets handed in after the due date will receive no points and be counted toward the average. Students are encouraged to interact outside class and discuss the homework, but solutions must be developed individually.

Exam dates:

9/24, 10/22, 12/7 (Final exam)