PHY 341 Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics

PHY 341/641 Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics

MWF 10:00-10:50 AM

OPL 107

http://www.wfu.edu/~natalie/s12phy341/

Instructor: Natalie Holzwarth Phone:758-5510 Office:300 OPL e-mail:natalie@wfu.edu

Schedule and assignments

Note: This schedule may need to be modified -- please check for changes and additions frequently.

No.	Lecture Date	Topic	Text Sections	Problem Assignments	Assignment Due Date
1	1/18/2012	Introductory concepts	1.1-1.5	HW 1	1/23/2012
2	1/20/2012	Introductory concepts	1.6-1.12	HW 2	1/23/2012
3	1/23/2012	First Law of Thermodynamics	2.1-2.11	HW 3	1/25/2012
4	1/25/2012	Second Law of Thermodynamics	2.12-2.14	HW 4	1/27/2012
5	1/27/2012	Entropy	2.15-2.19	HW 5	1/30/2012
6	1/30/2012	Thermodynamic Potentials	2.20-2.21	HW 6	2/1/2012
7	2/01/2012	Thermodynamic Potentials	2.22-2.24	HW 7	2/3/2012
8	2/03/2012	Introduction to probability theory	3.1-3.3	HW 8	2/6/2012
9	2/06/2012	Probability distributions	3.4-3.5	HW 9	2/8/2012
10	2/08/2012	Continuous distributions/Central limit theorem	3.6-3.10	HW 10	2/10/2012
11	2/10/2012	Introduction to statistical mechanics	4.1-4.2	HW 11	2/13/2012
12	2/13/2012	Enumeration of microstates	4.3	HW 12	2/15/2012
13	2/15/2012	Many particle systems	4.4-4.5	HW 13	2/17/2012
14	2/17/2012	Microcanonical ensemble	4.6	HW 14	2/20/2012
15	2/20/2012	Canonical ensemble	4.7-4.8	HW 15	2/22/2012
16	2/22/2012	Grand canonical ensemble	4.9-4.12	HW 16	2/24/2012
17	2/24/2012	Introduction to magnetic systems	5.1-5.5
	2/27/2012	APS -- no class; take-home exam
	2/29/2012	APS -- no class; take-home exam
	3/02/2012	APS -- no class; take-home exam
18	3/05/2012	Exam due -- Ising model	5.5	HW 17	03/07/2012
19	3/07/2012	Ising model	5.6-5.7	HW 18	03/09/2012
20	3/09/2012	Phase transformation	5.8-5.10
	3/12/2012	Spring Break
	3/14/2012	Spring Break
	3/16/2012	Spring Break
21	3/19/2012	Many particle systems	6.1-6.2	HW 19	03/23/2012
22	3/21/2012	Fermi and Bose particles	6.3-6.4
23	3/23/2012	Bose and Fermi particles	6.5-6.11	HW 20	03/28/2012
24	3/26/2012	Bose and Fermi particles	6.5-6.11
25	3/28/2012	Phase transformations	7.1-7.3	HW 21	03/30/2012
26	3/30/2012	Van der Waals Equation	7.4
27	4/02/2012	Equilibrium constants	7.4-7.5	HW 22	04/04/2012
28	4/04/2012	Equilibrium constants	7.5
	4/06/2012	Good Friday Holiday
29	4/09/2012	Review -- begin take-home exam	5-7
	4/11/2012	No class -- work on exam	5-7
30	4/13/2012	Simulation of chemical potential	7.2	Exam continued
31	4/16/2012	Classical treatment of dense systems	8.1-8.2	Exam due
32	4/18/2012	Review exam; Virial expansion	8.3-8.4
33	4/20/2012	Radial distribution function	8.5
34	4/23/2012	More topics on classical fluids	8.6-8.9
35	4/25/2012	Review
36	4/27/2012	Review
	4/30/2012	Student presentations I
	5/02/2012	Student presentations II
	5/09/2012	9 AM Final exam

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #1

January 18, 2012

Read the beginning of Chapter 1 in STP. Choose one of the following problems in your textbook. Each problem has multiple parts. Choose at least 2 of the ideas to explore. The "complete" assignment should include a snapshot of your simulation and appropriate commentary on the results.

STP 1.1. This involves downloading the stp_MDApproachToEquilibriumThreePartitions.jar program from the http://www.compadre.org/STP/ website.
STP 1.2. This involves downloading the stp_ApproachToEquilibrium.jar program from the http://www.compadre.org/STP/ website.

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #2

January 20, 2012

Complete the reading of Chapter 1 in STP.

STP 1.4 (a)-(c) This involves downloading the stp_LJ2DMD.jar program from the http://www.compadre.org/STP/ website. Your "complete" assignment should include some snapshots of your simulations and qualitative answers to parts (b) and (c). It might be informative to try different choices for N and L as well. (Note that the computation time increases when N increases and that L should be consistent with the choice of σ.

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #3

January 23, 2012

Start reading of Chapter 2 in STP.

In class, we constructed a table of processes on an ideal gas and the corresponding relationships between ΔU, Q, and W which is reproduced below. Derive these entries and check whether or not they are correct.

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #4

January 25, 2012

Continue to read Chapter 2 in STP.

Consider the cyclic process shown Fig. 2.4 of your textbook and suppose the system is an ideal gas with heat capacity ratio γ. In terms of P_high, P_low, V_high, V_low and γ, determine the heats Q₁₂, Q₂₃, Q₃₄, Q₄₁ added to the system.

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #5

January 27, 2012

Continue to read Chapter 2 in STP.

Consider the expression of the First Law of Thermodynamics in terms of the entropy S:

dU = TdS - PdV.

For an ideal gas system with heat capacity ratio γ, find an expression for S as a function of T and V.
Express your result as a function of P and V.

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #6

January 30, 2012

Continue reading Chapter 2 in STP.

Consider the 4 Maxwell relations for fixed particle numbers N given in equations 2.187, 2.191, 2.192, and 2.193. Derive 8 more Maxwell relations appropriate for variable particle number conditions expressed in terms of N and the chemical potential μ. Note: 2 of these expressions were derived in class from the internal energy function U(S,V,N).

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #7

February 1, 2012

Continue reading Chapter 2 in STP.

Work problem 2.56 on pg. 104 of your textbook. Assume that γ=5/3 so that you can obstain numerical values for Q and W for each step.

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #8

February 3, 2012

Finish reading Chapter 2 and start reading Chapter 3 in STP.

Work problem 2.58 on pg. 105 of your textbook.

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #9

February 6, 2012

Continue reading Chapter 3 in STP.

Work problem 3.13 on pg. 118 of your textbook.

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #10

February 8, 2012

Continue reading Chapter 3 in STP.

Work problem 3.33 on pg. 143 of your textbook.

PHY 341/641 -- Assignment #11

February 10, 2012

Finish reading Chapter 3 and start reading Chapter 4 in STP.

Work problem 3.39 on pg. 150 of your textbook.