PHYS350

This course is an introduction to thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. Some of the basic concepts such as temperature, heat, internal energy, entropy and multiplicity will be introduced. The theory will be demonstrted through examples such as magnetic spin systems and harmonic oscillator. This will be followed by introducing the partition function and free energy. Various quantities will be calculated using the partition function. Then, phonons and Debye's theory will be studied. We will investigate chemical potential and its connection with entropy. The course will end by studying heat engines, and phase transformations. Several laws are applied in the discussion of heat engines and some famous examples will be given for phase transformations.