Module Identifier | PH31510 | ||
Module Title | THERMAL PHYSICS 2 | ||
Academic Year | 2001/2002 | ||
Co-ordinator | Dr Eleri Pryse | ||
Semester | Semester 2 | ||
Other staff | Dr Geraint Thomas | ||
Pre-Requisite | Core Physics Modules at Levels 1 & 2 | ||
Course delivery | Lecture | 20 lectures | |
Seminars / Tutorials | 2 workshops | ||
Assessment | Course work | Example sheet 1 Deadline (by week of Semester): Week 5 | 10% |
Course work | Example sheet 2 Deadline (by week of Semester): Week 10 | 10% | |
Exam | 3 Hours End of semester examinations for MPhys students. 2 hours for BSc students | 80% |
Reminder: Thermodynamic potentials, Maxwell relations, thermodynamic variables
First order phase changes: Gibbs function and Clausius-Clapeyron equation
Second and higher order phase changes
Ehrenfests classification, examples of different order
Adiabatic demagnetisation: attainment of very low temperatures
Chemical Potential and its applications to open systems
Third Law of thermodynamics: entropy near absolute zero
Negative temperatures and population inversion
Superconductivity
Superfluidity: properties of liquid helium
Statistical Mechanics
Assembly of distinguishable particles: Boltzmann distribution, Partition function, link to thermodynamic quantities, examples
Assembly of indistinguishable particles (gases): Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions, Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, examples