Kinetic Theory: Elements of Kinetic theory of gases. Velocity distribution and Equipartition of energy. Specific heat of Mono-, di- and tri-atomic gases.
[Image of maxwell boltzmann velocity distribution]
Real Gases: Ideal gas, van-der-Waals gas and equation of state. Mean free path.
Laws of Thermodynamics: Zeroth law (thermal equilibrium). First law and its consequences. Isothermal and adiabatic processes. Second law and entropy. Carnot cycle.
[Image of carnot cycle pv diagram]
Processes: Reversible, irreversible and quasi-static processes.
Potentials & Relations: Maxwell’s thermodynamic relations and simple applications. Thermodynamic potentials and their applications.
Phase Transitions: Phase transitions and Clausius-Clapeyron equation.
[Image of phase diagram of water]
Statistical Mechanics: Ideas of ensembles, Maxwell-Boltzmann, Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions.
Study Strategy
Thermodynamics bridges the gap between microscopic chaos and macroscopic order. Focus on the Carnot Cycle and Entropy calculations. For Statistical Mechanics, understand the conditions for applying Fermi-Dirac vs Bose-Einstein statistics.