PHYS 375: Thermal and Statistical Physics

Credits 3
Attributes
Alternate Year,
Required for the major,
Upper-Level
Examines basic concepts of thermodynamics such as internal energy, heat, work, temperature, reversibility and entropy. This course shows how the application of a few basic concepts from probability and statistics can elucidate a wide range of phenomena such as the kinetic theory of gases, osmotic pressure and changes in equilibrium states cause by variations in pressure or temperature. Quantum applications include Planck's theory of blackbody radiation and statistics for identical particles.