Thermodynamics

This course will cover the topics of a full year, two semester General Chemistry course. We will use a free on-line textbook, Concept Development Studies in Chemistry, available via Rice’s Connexions project. The fundamental concepts in the course will be introduced via the Concept Development Approach developed [...]

Modern engineering research focuses on designing new materials and processes at the molecular level. Statistical thermodynamics provides the formalism for understanding how molecular interactions lead to the observed collective behavior at the macroscale. This course will develop a molecular-level understanding of key thermodynamic quantities like heat, work, free energy [...]

Materials are the physical foundations for the development of science and technology. The human civilizations are historically designated by the evolution of materials, such as the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Nowadays, materials science and technology support most of the industrial sectors, including aerospace, telecommunications, [...]

Course 5 of Statistical Thermodynamics explores three different applications of non-equilibrium statistical thermodynamics. The first is the transport behavior of ideal gases, with some discussion of transport in dense gases and liquids. It starts with simple estimates of the transport properties of an ideas gas. It then introduces [...]

Course 3 of Statistical Thermodynamics, Ideal Gases, explores the behavior of systems when intermolecular forces are not important. This done by evaluating the appropriate partition functions for translational, rotational, vibrational and/or electronic motion. We start with pure ideal gases including monatomic, diatomic and polyatomic species. [...]

Course 2 of Statistical Thermodynamics presents an introduction to quantum mechanics at a level appropriate for those with mechanical or aerospace engineering backgrounds. Using a postulatory approach that describes the steps to follow, the Schrodinger wave equation is derived and simple solutions obtained that illustrate atomic and molecular structural [...]

Course 1 first explores the basics of both macroscopic and microscopic thermodynamics from a postulatory point of view. In this view, the meaning of temperature, thermodynamic pressure and chemical potential are especially clear and easy to understand. In addition, the development of the Fundamental Relation and its various transformations [...]