Physics 3374/6351 Fall 2008

Course Syllabus

We'll cover most of the material in Reif from Ch 1 through Ch 7, along
with some of the very useful appendices.  The grads will be given additional
reading and problems.

Topic                                   Reference

Introduction:                           Reif 1967 (easy Reif), Ch1
Examples of statistical reasoning
for systems of particles; reversible
and irreversible processes

Basic probability

The random walk and binomial            Reif (our course text) Ch 1
distribution; gaussian approximation

General results for sums of             Reif Ch 1
random numbers

Review of some ideas from Modern        Any Modern Physics text
Physics (mainly angular momentum)

Specifying Microstates for systems      Reif Ch 2
of particles, classical and quantum

The basic postulate; assigning          Reif Ch 2
probabilities to microstates       

Growth of states with available energy  Reif Ch 2

Macroscopic states and interactions     Reif Ch 2
between; external parameters

Infinitesimals and differentials        Reif Ch 2

Definitions of heat, temperature        Reif Ch 3
and entropy           

Sharpness of distributions in energy    Reif Ch 3

Dependence of microstates on external   Reif Ch 3
parameters

Ideal Gas Law                           Reif Ch 3

Equilibrium conditions                  Reif Ch 3

Laws of Classical Thermodynamics        Reif Ch 3

Thermometers                            Reif Ch 4

Heat Capacity                           Reif Ch 4

Classical Thermodynamics intro          Reif Ch 5

Thermodynamic functions and             Reif Ch 5
Maxwell Relations

Equations of state and                  Reif Ch 5
Van der Waal's gas

Heat Engines                            Reif Ch 5

Systems at known temperature or         Reif Ch 6
average energy: the Boltzmann
distribution

Partition function                      Reif Ch 6

Applications of the Boltzmann           Reif Ch 7 
distribution: 
Equipartition thm        

Magnetization                           Reif Ch 7

Specific heats of solids                Reif Ch 7

Quantum Ideal Gases (time permitting)   Reif Ch 9

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