Physics 224A Syllabus

0. COURSE OUTLINE. [Day 1] Scope of course. Organizational details. Historical background.

1. FLUIDS and SOLIDS.  [Weeks 1-2] States of matter and characteristic properties of materials; statics of fluids; a little about solids and about fluid dynamics. Gases, liquids and solids; density as a characteristic of a material; pressure in a fluid; molecular basis of these concepts. Boyle's law and atmospheric pressure; Archimedes and the measurement of solid volume and density; buoyancy; bulk modulus of a fluid. Elasticity of a solid; fluid dynamics as an application of matter, energy and momentum conservation. 

  • Core material: 13-1 to 13-6 in Gi, or 16.1 and 15.1 to 15.4 in Kt, or 15-1 through 15-5 in RHK, or 14.1 through 14.4 in SJ; Secs. 1.1 through 1.6 in Notes on Fluids .
  • Optional reading: 12-5, 13-7 to 13-11 in Gi, or 15.5 to 15.6 in Kt (but Kt 15.5 is much less satisfactory than Gi 13-7 to 13-11), or 16-1 through 16-4 in RHK, or 12.4 and 14.5 through 14.7 in SJ; Secs. 1.7 through 1.9 in Notes on Fluids .

    2. TEMPERATURE and THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM. [Weeks 2-3] Temperature and thermometry; thermal equilibrium, equations of state. Heat flow from higher temperature to lower temperature; thermal conduction and insulation; thermal expansion and other methods of temperature measurement; ideal gas thermometer and real gases. Equations of state and phase diagrams.

  • Core material: Chapter 17 in Gi, or Chapter 16 in Kt, or Chapter 21 in RHK, or Chaper 19 in SJ; Notes on Temperature and Thermal Equilibrium.

    3. HEAT, WORK, ENERGY, and the FIRST LAW. [Weeks 3, 4, 5] Heat as energy; measurement of heat; first law of thermodynamics; heat flow. Heat capacity and latent heat; calorimetry; thermal conduction, convection and radiation; evaporation and heat transfer; Stefan-Boltzmann law. applications of heat transfer to climate, cookery, etc. 

  • Core material: chapter 19 in Gi, or sec. 16.6 and chapter 17 in Kt, or Chapter 23 of RHK, or Chaper 20 in SJ; Notes on Heat, Work, Energy and the First Law.

    4. KINETIC THEORY and STATISTICAL MECHANICS. [Weeks 6,7] Gas laws; Pressure as force due to molecules. Temperature as kinetic energy per degree of freedom. Probability and probability density.  Boltzmann distribution. Temperature in Boltzmann factor.  Boyle's Law, Avogadro's Law and atomic theory. Equipartition and heat capacities. Sound speed; The Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. Mean free path Pressure, temperature and transport coefficients. Brownian motion. 

  • Core material:  Chapter 18 in Gi, or sec. 16.5 and sections 18.1 through 18.5 in Kt, or secs. 22-1 through 22-6 in RHK, or Chaper 21 in SJ; Notes on Kinetic Theory and Statistical Mechanics, secs. 4.1 through 4.6.
  • Optional reading: Chapter 16 of Boas, Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences; Notes on Kinetic Theory and Statistical Mechanics, secs. 4.7 through 4.9.

    5. ENTROPY and the SECOND LAW. [Weeks 8, 9, 10] The cost of getting work from heat, reversible cycles, entropy, thermodynamic temperature. Carnot cycle and ideal engines. Heat pumps and refrigerators. Irreversibility. Heat and entropy. Latent heat. Interpretation of entropy. Some simple examples of the use of the second law. 

  • Core material: Chapter 19 in Gi, or sec. 18.6 and Chapter 19 in Kt, or Chapter 24 of RHK, or Chaper 22 in SJ; Notes on the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
  • Optional reading Notes on Entropy. 

    ABBREVIATIONS and DEFINITIONS

  • Gi: Physics for Scientists and Engineers,  by Giancoli, 3rd edition.
  • Kt: Physics for Scientists and Engineers,  by Knight.
  • RHK: Physics,  by Resnick, Halliday and Krane, 5th edition.
  • SJ: Physics for Scientists and Engineers,  by Serway and Jewett, 6th edition.
  • Core material: You need to know this in detail.
  • Optional reading: gives a different or more detailed view of the material. 

    DATES

  • Monday, April 30: Midterm Examination (provisional date)
  • Monday, May 28: Memorial Day
  • Monday, June 4, 8:30-10:20 am: Final Examination