PHY 3010U – Statistical Mechanics I

The course introduces students to the statistical behaviour of physical systems with large numbers of particles and degrees of freedom. This course shows how macroscopic thermodynamics can be explained by a statistical treatment of microscopic interactions, both classical and quantum. The course will introduce the dynamical basis of temperature, entropy, chemical potential and other thermodynamic quantities. Topics include: the kinetic theory of gases; statistical thermodynamics; classical and quantum statistics; Boltzmann and Maxwell-Boltzmann distributions; the classical statistical treatment of an ideal gas; the heat capacity of a diatomic gas; the heat capacity of a solid.
Credit hours: 3
Lecture hours: 3
Prerequisite(s): PHY 2030U, PHY 2050U or CHEM 2040U