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Instructor : Franco Nori. Physics Department. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor. MI 48109-1120.
Course Description: Physics 406 is an introductory course on Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics. These two subjects provide simple and powerful tools to study complex systems (with very many degrees of freedom). The results have very broad applications, widely used throughout science and engineering.
A few Quotes on Statistical Mechanics.
Textbook
(PDF): Textbook (MS Word)::
C. Kittel and H. Kroemer. Thermal Physics.
Second edition. Freeman.
Recommended Texts:
R K Pathria. Statistical Mechanics.
Second edition. Butterworth-Heinemann.
David L. Goodstein, States of Matter. Dover.
Class meets: M-W-F 9-10am at 231 West Hall. Office hours: M-W-F, 10-11am.
Course
Outline (PDF):
States of Systems
Entropy and Temperature
Boltzman Distribution and Helmholtz Free Energy
Thermal Radiation and Planck Distribution
Chemical Potential and Gibbs Distribution
Ideal Gas
Fermi and Bose Gases
Heat and Work
Gibbs Free Energy and Chemical Reactions
Phase transformations
Binary Mixtures
Semiconductor Statistics
Kinetic Theory and Propagation
Tentative Semester Plan:
September: Chapters 1 to 4
October: Ch. 4 to 7
November: Ch. 8 to 10
December: selected topics from Ch. 13 and Ch. 15
REQUIRED assignments: read material *BEFORE* every class. Also, regular homework assignments. You are expected to study the textbook (Kittel-Kroemer) in detail.