FY810: Thermal Physics I (5 ECTS)

STADS: 07004801

Level
Master's level course

Teaching period
The course is offered in the spring semester.
3th quater

Teacher responsible
Email: ipsen@memphys.sdu.dk

Additional teachers
lyngs@memphys.sdu.dk
steen@ifk.sdu.dk
svt@ifk.sdu.dk

Timetable
Show entire timetable
Show personal time table for this course.

Comment:
Samlæses med første del af bachelorkurset FY509.

Prerequisites:
None

Academic preconditions:
Bachelor's degree in Nanobioscience. The course is only intended for students that are enrolled in the master programme Nanobioscience.

Course introduction
The course gives an introduction to the fundamental concepts of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics and shows their applications to selected physical and chemical systems and to the interpretation of experiments.

Expected learning outcome
After having attended the course, the students are expected to be able to: 1. Explain and apply the laws of thermodynamics
2. Apply Maxwell's relations
3. Formulate and use equilibrium conditions
4. Apply the three most common ensembles for calculations of average and dispersion values of standard variables
5. Calculate thermodynamics functions for a degenerate Fermi-Dirac gas, e.g. electrons in solids
6. Write down partition sums for molecules and solids and calculate the appropriate thermodynamica variables
7. Apply the mean field approximation

Subject overview
he main topics are thermodynamics, basic statistical mechanics and quantum statistics.
- The basic concepts of thermal dynamics (state functions, first and second law of thermodynamics, thermodynamics potentials and response functions) are derived and discussed using simple examples e.g. the ideal gas.
- Basic relations between equilibrium fluctuations and susceptibility are examined.
- Equilibrium conditions
- Micro- and macro-canonical partition functions and ensembles are introduced and related to the fundamental principles of thermodynamics.
- The statistical mechanics of the monoatomic ideal gas is developed from the quantum and classical description of the particles.
- Fermi and Bose statistics: Fermi energy, heat capacity and Fermi gases, Einstein and Debye theory of phonons, black-body radiation.
- Further examples considered: surface absorption, Langmuir isotherms, Ising paramagnetic model.
- An obligatory report on the relation between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics is to be written by groups of 1 or 2 students.

Literature

• A.H. Carter: Classical and Statistical thermodynamics.

Syllabus
See syllabus.

Website
This course uses e-learn (blackboard).

Prerequisites for participating in the exam
None

Assessment and marking:
A written project report followed by a short oral exam (15 minutes), with the project report as a starting point. Marks according to the Danish 7-scale, internal examiner.

re-exsam after 4th quater. The examination type at reexamination may differ from the one at the ordinary examination.

Expected working hours
The teaching method is based on three phase model.

Forlæsninger: 22 timer Eksaminatorietimer: 20 timer
Educational activities

Language
This course is taught in English, if international students participate. Otherwise the course is taught in Danish.

Course enrollment
See deadline of enrolment.

Tuition fees for single courses
See fees for single courses.