Instructor: Dr. R. J. Pfeiffer

Office: P-134 Science Complex (Physics Department) Telephone: 771-2557, or 771-2569 (Dept. No.)

Office Hours: Mon.  ; other times by appointment of course.

Text: A. H. Carter: Classical and Statistical Thermodynamics, 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

References:
Espinola, T. P., Introduction to Thermophysics, Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1994.
Schroeder, D. V.,  An Introduction toThermal Physics, Addison-Wesley, 2000.

COURSE OUTLINE:

BASIC CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES
  See Chapter 1, 2, and 3 notes available on my web page.
EQUATIONS OF STATE
HEAT AND WORK
ADIABATIC PROCESSES
THE 1ST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
CARNOT CYCLE
THE 2ND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
THERMODYNAMIC POTENTIALS
THE 3RD LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
KINETIC THEORY
STATISTICAL PHYSICS

Tests:

There will be three or four tests given during the semester. This includes a final examination that will
be held during the formal final examination period as scheduled by the registrar.  Students are advised
to do all the assigned homework and to keep up with their studies.

Homework Problems:

There will be many homework assignments, including problems and programing. Some of these
assignments  will be graded and included in the computation of one's course grade.

Only 8 1/2 by 11-inch paper, without serrated edges, may be used for all assignments and tests.
Write on only one side of each page and start a new problem on a new page. All pages for a given
problem must be stapled together, but since each problem will be separately filed, DO NOT staple together
the pages of different problems. Students who fail to comply with the above instructions and insist on bringing
about unnecessary increases in the entropy of the universe,  will must suffer the consequences.
 

See the WEB document,  Assignments, for assigned homework.

Attendance:

Attendance will not be used as a grading criterion per se, however, attendance will be taken
daily for administrativepurposes. Students must have a valid and documented excuse for
missing a scheduled test or they will incur a failure. All other appointments must be made
scheduled at times that do not conflict with scheduled test times.

If a test is missed because of an emergency and the instructor can not be informed prior to
the time of a scheduledtest, a student must arrange for a rescheduled test at the earliest
opportunity and no later than the first day they return to class.

Grading Criteria:

1. Perform well on all tests and achieve passing grades.

2. Complete all assigned problems in a satisfactory manner and on time.

3. Complete all other assignments satisfactorily

4. Instructor's judgement of a student's achievement and mastery of the course subject matter.

5. Students will be expected to write programs as part of some assignments.

Computation of Course Grade:

A student's course grade will depend mainly on the weighted mean of all test and homework
scores. This will be done by adding together all the points correct and dividing this sum by the
sum of the points attempted or assigned. The grand percentage for each student will be assigned
a course letter grade depending on the instructor's analysis of the distribution of the scores for
all students in the course.