PHYS 310: Thermodyanmics and Kinetic Theory


Location

CCIS L1-047

Time

TR 930-1050 (Fall Term)

Teaching delivery methods

Lectures will be given in person.

Grade break-down

Assignments 25%, Midterm Exam 25%, Final Exam 50%

Assignments

There will be 5 assignments, each worth 5% of the final grade.
(total of assignments worth 25% final grade).

Assignments should be submitted into the box marked PHYS310 opposite CCIS L2-041.

Late assignments are not accepted. They must be handed in before the time and date indicated on the assignment (typically Thursdays at 4pm).

Assignment questions and their solutions will appear below as the course progresses.

Midterm

In class 9:30-10:50am on Tuesday, October 24 in CCIS L1-047
(worth 25% final grade)
(Note the date above was changed from the originally scheduled date by agreement of the class.)

Topics to be covered by midterm

Aids you can bring to the midterm

Midterm preparation

Midterm solutions

Exam

9am - noon, Thursday, December 14. NRE 1-003 (Natural Resources Engineering Facility)
(worth 50% final grade)

Deferred exam 9am-noon, Saturday, January 27, 2024 in CCIS L1-047

The exam will have six questions based on the material covered in the entire course, except chapters 9 and 12 of lecture notes. (I.e. you do not need to know about chemical potentials or Boltzmann statistics.)

Provided tools

Aids you can bring to the exam

Final exam preparation

Syllabus

Much of the information here is summarized in the syllabus, which also points to additional university learning, support and ethics resources/guidelines.

Extra Help

Office hours will be set by appointment.
To make an appointment, send an email request to bruce.sutherland-AT-ualberta.ca (replace -AT- with @ in address) with suggested meeting times during the next working day.

Alternately, I will be available to answer questions during breaks in class or immediately after lectures.

Course Outline

Temperature: heat, work, and the first law of thermodynamics; entropy and the second law, enthalpy, Helmholtz and Gibbs free energy; thermodynamic equilibrium criteria; Maxwell's relations, phase transitions; elementary kinetic theory of gases

Textbook

There is no required textbook for the course.
The course will be taught from the lecture notes. These will be posted below as the term progresses.

Additional Resources

You may wish to refer to the following textbooks for additional aid:

Lecture Notes

The course will be taught from the lecture notes below:

Supplemental

Prerequisites and co-requisites

Prerequisites: one of PHYS 124,144 or EnPh 131; and one of PHYS 126, 146 or 130.
Pre- or Co-requisite: MATH 209 or MATH 215 or MATH 317 or equivalent.


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