Physics 331 – Statistical Physics Spring 2001

Textbook: Thermal Physics, Kittel and Kroemer (2^nd Edition)

Supplemental Text: Thermal Physics, Baierlein

Instructor: D. Louca (louca@virginia.edu)

Date	Topic	Additional Reading	Problem Sets Due
Jan 18	Chapter 1: Introduction, Binary Models	Reichl Chapter 5
23	Binomial, Random Walk, Poison, Stirling’s	Reif Chapter 1
25	Chapter 2: Thermodynamics and Entropy	Pathria Ch. 3, Reif Ch. 3.4	HMW #1
30	Ensembles, Laws of Thermodynamics	Mandl, Ch. 1, Reichl Ch. 2
Feb 1	Chapter 3: Specific heat, Maxwell relations	Baierlein Ch. 3, Reif Ch. 4	HMW #2
6	Helmholtz free energy, Enthalpy, Gibbs	Reif Chapter 5
8	Ideal gas, Partition Function	Baierlein Chapter 5
13	Chapter 4: Planck Law	Reif, Chapter 9.13	HMW #3
15	Debye Theory, Stefan-Boltzmann Law
20	1^st midterm, in-class, close book		HMW #4
22	Chapter 5: Chemical potential, barometric pr.	Reif Section 8.8, 9.10
27	Gibbs factor	Baierlein Ch. 7
Mar 1	Adsorption & Chapter 6: Occupation #’s,	Reif Chapter 9	HMW #5
6	Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein stats.	Baierlein Chapter 8
8	Classical limit & Chapter 7: DOS		HMW #6
Mar 10-18	Spring Break
20	Chapter 7: Heat capacity, white dwarfs	Pathria Chapter 7 + 8	HMW #7
22	Bose-Einstein Condensation
27	Liquid Helium, lambda transition	Reif 9.9	HMW #8
29	2^nd midterm, in-class, close book
Apr 3	Chapter 8: Heat and Work	Rief Chapter 4
5	Carnot Cycle; Demo: superconductivity
10	Approaching Zero, 3^rd law	Baierlein Chapter 14	HMW #9
12	Negative T Chapter 9: Gibbs Free Energy	Baierlein Chapter 10
17	Diatomic mol’s Chapter 10: Phase Transf’s	Pathria Chapter 12	HMW #10
19	Clausius-Clapeyron eqn, ^3He phase diagram	Reif 8.5
24	Isotherms, Van der Waals eqn of state	Reif 10.3	HMW #11
26	Landau trans. Chapter 11: Binary mixtures
May 1	Last Day of Classes