Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is statistical mechanics in the limit of large numbers. The most
appropriate principles to learn at first woulf be the first and second laws of
thermodynamics. From the first law one would gain an intuition of what
heat is. The second law would reveal what heat does.
Here are a few of the more fundamental problems in thermodynamics:
- Ideal gas law - Tire with a leak
solution
- Calorimetry - Hot
metal in ice lake
solution
- Equipartition theorem -
Internal molecular degrees of
freedom solution
- Work - The limits of a Carnot cycle
solution
- Pressure and Temperature -
Combustion of methane
and oxygen
solution
- Heat conduction -
Sheet of metal with one
side kept at room temp
solution
- Phase transformation - Water to ice
- Chemical potential - Electrolysis in fuel cell
- Liousville theorem - Ergodicity of a canonical ensemble
- Quantum Statistics - Bose-Einstein condensation
back to Mechanics
go to Electromagnetism
