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Syllabus
PHYS 341 and BMME 341 Fall Semester, 2014
Instructor: Professor Yue Wu
Office Hours: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, MWF
Office: Chapman Hall, Room 341
Phone: (919) 962-0307
E-mail: yuewu@email.unc.edu

Lectures: MWF 3:00 p.m.-3:50 p.m.
Lecture Room: Phillips 265
Text Book: An Introduction to Thermal Physics, by Daniel V. Schroeder, 1
st
edition
Final Exam: Saturday at 4 pm, December 6, 2014.

Course Description
This class presents the basic concepts of thermodynamics and its applications. In
addition, statistical mechanics will also be taught at an introductory level. The emphasis
is on using thermodynamics and statistical mechanics to understand a broad range of
problems in physics and physical chemistry with adequate mathematical tools.

Work Expected
1. Homework
Homework will be assigned each Friday and is due the next Friday in class.
Homework grading: Each question is assigned 10 points.
2. Two midterm exams
3. Final exam

Grading
The final grade will be weighted according to:
Homework: 30%
Two midterm exams: 30%
Final exam: 40%

Schedules
Date Chapters Topics
Aug 20 1.1, 1.2, Thermal equilibrium, the ideal gas,
Aug 22 1.3, 1.4 Equipartition of energy, heat and work
Aug 25 1.5, 1.6 Compression work, heat capacities
Aug 27 1.7 Rates of processes
Aug 29 2.1, 2.2 Two-state systems, Einstein model of a solid
Sept 1 No class, Labor Day
Sept 3 2.3, 2.4 Interacting systems, large systems
Sept 5 2.5 The ideal gas
Sept 8 2.6 Entropy
Sept 10 3.1 Temperature
Sept 12 3.2 Entropy and heat
Sept 15 3.3 Paramagnetism
Sept 17 3.4 Mechanical equilibrium and pressure
2
Sept 19 3.5, 3.6 Diffusive equilibrium and chemical potential, summary
Sept 22 4.1 Heat engines
Sept 24 4.2 Refrigerators
Sept 26 4.3, 4.4 Real heat engines, real refrigerators
Sept 29 Midterm I Covered materials: Chapters 1, 2, and 3.
Oct 1 5.1 Free energy and available work
Oct 3 5.1 Free energy and available work
Oct 6 5.2 Free energy as a force toward equilibrium
Oct 8 5.3 Phase transformation of pure substances
Oct 10 5.3 Phase transformation of pure substances
Oct 13 5.4 Phase transformations of mixtures
Oct 15 5.5 Dilute solutions
Oct 17 No class, fall Break
Oct 20 5.6 Chemical equilibrium
Oct 22 6.1 The Boltzmann factor
Oct 24 6.2 Average values
Oct 27 6.3, 6.4 The equipartition theorem, the Maxwell speed distribution
Oct 29 6.5 Partition functions and free energy
Oct 31 6.6 Partition functions for composite systems
Nov 3 Midterm II Covered materials: Chapters 4, 5, and 6.1, 6.2.
Nov 5 6.7 Ideal gas revisited
Nov 7 7.1 The Gibbs factor
Nov 10 7.2 Bosons and Fermions
Nov 12 7.3 Degenerate Fermi gases
Nov 14 7.4 Blackbody radiation
Nov 17 7.4 Blackbody radiation
Nov 19 7.5 Debye theory of solids
Nov 21 7.6 Bose-Einstein condensation
Nov 24 8.1 Weakly interacting gases
Nov 26 Thanksgiving Break
Nov 28 No class
Dec 1 8.2 The Ising model of a ferromagnet
Dec 3 Review
Dec 6 Final Exam 4 pm, cumulative