.Before each class (normally two days before), we will post required reading from the textbook. You will benefit much more from lectures if you do the advance reading as required.
Lecture notes will be posted here regularly, for two reasons: (a)
students with learning disabilities may need them, and (b) students
loved it when I did this in the past. Downloading lecture
notes is, however, no substitute for attending lectures. My verbal
discussion of a physics concept or example in class is often quite
different than what is in the notes, and a lot more valuable.
Electronic copies of lecture notes are also notoriously unable to
answer questions .
Please note that the directory structures on this page have been reorganized, to allow those who can't handle the PDF files to access the JPG scans directly.
| Week | Date | Pre-class KK reading | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | W 07 Jan | Ch1, pp6-18 | Introducing the Spin System | ||
| F 09 Jan | Ch1, pp19-26 | More on the Spin System | |||
| 2 | W 14 Jan | Ch2, pp27-39 | Average and RMS values, ensembles, and two systems in thermal contact | ||
| F 16 Jan | Ch2, pp39-54 | Entropy and Temperature | |||
| 3 | W 21 Jan | Ch3, pp55-64 | Boltzmann Factor, Partition Function Z | ||
| F 23 Jan | Ch3, pp65-71 | Pressure, the Helmholtz Free Energy F | |||
| 4 | W 28 Jan | Ch3, pp71-73 | Maxwell Relations, Ideal Gas (First Go) | ||
| F 30 Jan | Ch3, pp74-91 | Ideal Gas Law, Photon Gas (part 1) | |||
| 5 | W 04 Feb | Ch4, pp91-102 | Photons: energy, entropy, blackbody | ||
| F 06 Feb | Ch4, pp102-116 | Phonons | |||
| 6 | W 11 Feb | Ch5, pp117-134 | Chemical Potential | ||
| F 13 Feb | |||||
| Reading Week: 16-20 Feb | |||||
| 7 | W 25 Feb | Review lecture / Q&A | [No notes posted.] | ||
| F 27 Feb | MIDTERM EXAMINATION | ||||
| 8 | W 03 Mar | Ch5, pp134-144 | Gibbs factor. Intro to Bosons and Fermions | ||
| F 05 Mar | Fun Lecture!
- Black Hole
Thermodynamics and String Theory
| ||||
| 9 | W 10 Mar | Ch6, pp151-161 | Fermions and Bosons: Thermodynamic Properties. | ||
| F 12 Mar | Ch6, pp162-176 | Classical ideal gas - internal degrees of freedom | |||
| 10 | W 17 Mar | Ch7, pp182-188 | Quantum Fermi Gas: Fermi energy | ||
| F 19 Mar | Ch7, pp189-199 | Quantum Fermi Gas: density of states | |||
| 11 | W 24 Mar | Ch7, pp199-206 | Bose-Einstein Condensation | ||
| F 26 Mar | Ch7, pp207-218 | Helium at low-T | |||
| 12 | W 31 Mar | Ch7, pp212-217 | Superfluidity | ||
| F 02 Apr | Ch8, pp225-244 | Heat and work, Carnot cycle | |||
| 13 | W 07 Apr | Review / Q&A session. | [No notes will be posted.] | ||
| F 09 Apr | [statutory holiday! no lecture] | ||||
| Study week: 12-16 Apr | |||||
| Exams: 19 Apr - 07 May FINAL EXAMINATION: 21 APRIL 9:00-12:00 | |||||
[ Abbreviations: "KK" = the textbook by Kittel and Kroemer, "Ch" = chapter, "pp" =pages. ]
Back to Main PHY252S Course Page