Physics 5305
(Statistical Physics) Web Page, Spring,
2008
2:00-2:50PM, Monday,
Wednesday, Friday
Science Room 010
Revised 5/16/08
Course Syllabus. Spring,
2008
TTU
Academic
Calendar. Final Exam Schedule.
Announcements
Lectures Exams
Homework
Attention!
This course is finished! It will next be offered in the Spring of 2009!
Instructor & Contact
Information
Dr. Charles W.
Myles, Professor
of Physics. Office: Sc. Rm 18. Phone: 742-3768. Office Hours: Right after class plus 11am-noon MWF & by appointment.
E-mail:
Charley.Myles@ttu.edu.
A class email distribution list will be developed & we can have
email
discussions .
It is vital that I
have your correct
email address, that
you tell me if it changes, & that you check your email DAILY!!
Here is an important email announcement!!
Books
Main Textbook: Fundamentals of Statistical &
Thermal Physics,
by F. Reif. (McGraw-Hill, 1965). Book webpage.
UndergraduateTextbook:
Introduction to
Statistical Mechanics &
Thermodynamics,
by Keith R. Stowe. (John Wiley, 1984). Book
webpage.
Syllabus,
Course
Topics & Objective
Topics: Selected sections from
Chapters 1-10 of Reif's book.
Selected topics from the Blundell book. Detailed
coverage announced as we go. The Syllabus is Here. Course
details (discussions of
Exams, Homework, & grading scheme) are found there. Objective: To introduce students to graduate level statistical &
thermal physics &
its applications & for the students to learn the fundamentals of this
important topic. A Library
Research paper & talk will be due at the end of the semester. Some
rules about
this are Here.
Help
Resources & Hints
A (Word)
Document with links to Statistical
Physics web resources is Here. Hints:
This course is sometimes difficult for
students.
This
is partially because it is (in places) mathematical
& partially because it is
(in
places) abstract. Unless you are a genius, the only way to
succeed in
this course is by VERY
HARD WORK! This means devoting MANY
Hours
outside of class for every hour in class. It also means at least trying to work
every assigned problem!
STUDENT
RESPONSIBILITIES
THIS IS
A GRADUATE COURSE!
I expect you to come to
class
prepared, do the homework,
READ the material BEFORE I lecture over
it, & keep up as we go along!
Attendance
I don't take roll &
I have no specific attendance policy. However, isn't it obvious that (unless you are a genius) class
attendance is required to
get a good grade (or better, to learn something!)?
If
attendance becomes a problem, I reserve the right to
institute brief daily quizzes, to be added into the homework grade.
Important Announcements & Calendar Items
will be posted on the Announcements Page, linked below. Also below are
links to Pages where Lectures,
Homework Solutions, & Exams
(+ solutions) will be
posted.
Do you want to know more about Dr. Myles (education, experience, research, etc.)? His Homepage
& his Research
Page have details. For some physics
news, go to Physics Central.
For news at a more advanced level, go to Focus News from the American
Physical Society. For some Physics
Fun, click Here.
Announcements
& Calendar Items
Lectures,
Homework Solutions, Exams & Solutions
Click
Here to find
out how to
reduce the # of pages when
printing a Power Point file!
Click Here
to
find out how to get Power
Point, Word, & other
software for free or almost free! Word
& Power Point come in the same package - Office. COPYRIGHT
STATEMENT: All lectures & exams are
copyrighted & owned by
Charles W.
Myles! No
reproduction &/or use of any of these documents other than by
students in this
course is allowed!
Lecture Page:
Has lectures in Power Point format.
Exams
Page:
Has exams (Word
format)
& solutions (.jpg
format).
Homework
Page:
Has
homework assignments. Solutions (.jpg format) will
be posted shortly
after the due date.
You are strongly
encouraged to form study groups to
work on homework together! This
is how physicists work in real situations! NO
CONSULTATION with
people who had this
course previously is allowed! NO
use
of problem solutions posted in previous years is allowed! This is on
the honor system! It will do
you no good to merely copy old solutions! Copying solutions will
NOT
teach you physics! Problems similar to the
assigned
ones have been known to appear on the PhD Qualifying Exam!!!
A good strategy is to try
to solve old exams BEFORE looking
at the
solutions. You CAN'T
LEARN PHYSICS by copying
solutions!
New exams & solutions will also be posted
(after the exam!). The exams are
composed uniquely
for
this semester! This should be obvious since the old exams are freely
downloadable by students in this course.
Student
Semester Projects
A
Library Research paper & talk will be due at the end of the
semester. This will be discussed in more detail
as the semester
progresses.
Some rules about
this are Here.
Papers
Page:
Will contain student term papers (Word or .pdf)
Talks
Page:
Will contain student presentations (Power Point or .pdf)
COPYRIGHT
STATEMENT: All papers & talks
available
here
are copyrighted & owned by the student listed
as the author! No
reproduction and/or use of them other than by students in this
course is allowed!
Miscellaneous
Topics
1. Check out the
Top
10 most influential people of the last 1000 years! (Link
borrowed from Dr. Tom Gibson!)
2.
Contributions
of 20th Century Women to Physics!
Did you ever wonder why there aren't more women physicists?
Actually,
a number of women made very important contributions to many areas of
physics
in the 1900's.
Here is a website which discusses this in detail!
3. In this
course,
4. In most of
this course,
5. A
formulation
of
The WORLD YEAR OF
PHYSICS 2005 marked 100 years
since Albert Einstein published 3 pioneering
papers (Relativity,
Brownian
Motion, Photoelectric
Effect), which changed
physics forever & are considered the beginning of "modern"
physics! (He won the 1921
Nobel Prize for the Photoelectric Effect!). The United
Nations,
the US
Congress, & the governments & scientific
societies of many
countries have endorsed it. 2005 events will
highlight the vitality
& importance of physics & bring physics excitement to the
public. For
more
information, click the image on the left.
<< Charles W.
Myles' Homepage