Physics 4302 (Statistical & Thermal Physics) Web Page, Spring, 2012
1:00-1:50PM, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Science Room 10
Attention!!
This course is finished!! It will be taught again in Spring, 2013!
Check back here again in December 2013 for updated announcements!
Most of these Physics 4302 pages are under construction!!
Course Syllabus. Library Research Project Rules.
Spring, 2012 TTU Academic Calendar.  Final Exam Schedule. Last Update, 5/17/2012.
Announcements  Lectures   Exams  Homework
Instructor & Contact Information
Dr. Charles W. Myles, Professor of Physics, Office: Sc. Rm 18. Phone: 742-3768. `
Office Hours: Right after class plus 3pm-4pm 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
1. Primary Textbook: Fundamentals of Statistical & Thermal Physics, by F. Reif.
This book is REQUIRED!! I use because it has nice explanations of key concepts. Major portions of the course will use it.
This is an old book (first published in 1965)! The orginal publisher, McGraw-Hill, stopped printing it. Waveland Press publishes it now & it is available from them Here. It's Amazon page is Here. Topics will be discussed in approximately the same order as the book table of contents, however, material from many sources other than this book will also be used. An search finds both  new & used copies & both hardcover & paperback versions. A google search (Here) gets 26,200 hits with prices  from $34 - $140!!
I strongly encourage you to shop & find the best price for you! Given the book cost, don't you think it would be worthwhile to READ IT???

2. Recommended Textbook: Concepts in Thermal Physics, by Stephen J. Blundell & Katherine M. Blundell (2006).
This book is not required. However, portions of some lectures will likely be taken from it & some homework will be assigned from it. It is published by Oxford University Press). It is available from them Here. It's Amazon page is Here. A google search gets 17,500 hits (Here) with prices from $17 - 99!!
Syllabus, Course Topics & Objective
Topics: Selected sections from Chapters 1-10 of Reif's book. Detailed coverage is announced as we go.
The Syllabus is Here. PLEASE READ IT!! Course details (discussions of Exams, Homework, grading scheme) are found there.
Objective: To introduce students to upper undergraduate level statistical & thermal physics & its applications &
for students to learn the fundamentals of this important topic. 

Help Resources & Hints
A 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 JUNIOR-SENIOR LEVEL COURSE! I expect you to come to class prepared, to do the homework,
to READ the material BEFORE I lecture over it, & keep up as we go along! 

Physics Level, Pre-Requisites, Objective & Topics
This course is the standard (nationwide) Junior-Senior Statistical & Thermal Physics course for Physics majors. Students in other areas (math, engineering, chemistry) sometimes take it & are welcome. A knowledge of vector calculus & differential equations is assumed! A knowledge of the mathematics of probability & statistics would be nice, but isn't required. We'll spend a few lectures at the beginning introducing the needed concepts. A knowledge of elementary Thermodynamics & Classical Mechanics (at the level of  Physics 1408) is assumed. A knowledge of elementary quantum mechanics (at the level of Physics 2402) is also assumed. This is a Junior/Senior course!! The text is at a level somewhere between some undergraduate & some graduate texts.The math in the text can be tedious. A goal is to emphasize physical understanding over math. I'll often skip math details in favor of discussing physics. This ISN'T a math course. If there is a math point you don't understand, please ask me about it & read about it on your own!   It is important  hat you not let the math get over your head to the extent that you lose sight of the PHYSICS.

Attendance
I don't take roll & 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!)? There's a correlation between class attendance & grades. Skipping also means that you are WASTING the tuition & fees that you (or your parents) paid! With tuition & fees for a full-time (Texas) student, each class meeting costs about $16.00. So, each time you skip, you are throwing away $16.00!! After a while this adds up! My lectures may not be entertaining or brilliant, but I do expose you to the material. To encourage attendance & try to prevent the large attendance decreases seen in previous semesters, especially on Fridays, a short (~10 min.) Quiz will be given EACH FRIDAY. They will be mostly qualitative, with questions on the Physical Concepts we’ve discussed in recent classes & simple problems similar to those assigned. The quiz percent will be averaged with the homework grade & will be equal in weight to one homework set.
NOTE: The weekend doesn't start Thursday evening or end Monday evening!
Friday & Monday are class days & NOT weekend days!

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. 
Announcements & Calendar Items
            Announcement Page: Has announcements & calendar items. Please check it often!

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!
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 Many lectures in Power Point format. Caution!! Some of these may be modified as the semester progresses! There also may be new some lectures added!

     Exams Page: Exams (Word format) & solutions (jpg format) will be posted (after the exam!). The exams are composed uniquely for this semester!
.
     Homework Page: Will have 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! I am also well  aware that, on the web, using Google or other search engines, you may be able to find solutions to some or all of the assigned problems. Just copying these & handing them in as your own is CHEATING!! Anyone caught cheating will, at a minimum, receive an “F” in this course! TTU has strict policies against cheating & severe penalties for it, including possible expulsion from the university. Cheating also defeats the purpose of having you solve problems, which is to help you LEARN physics. Just being an expert at using Google to find problem solutions will not teach you physics!! As junior & senior Physics majors, you should by now know that
the ONLY way to learn physics is to DO PHYSICS YOURSELF (or with friends)
by WORKING MANY, MANY, MANY PROBLEMS!!
Student Research 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.  Some past Student Research Project Topics are Here.

Miscellaneous Topics
1. Dr. Myles: Do you want to know more about him (education, experience, research, personal, etc.)? See his Homepage & Research Page. 
    A page about his Future Teaching is Here.

2. 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.

3. Check out the Top 10 most influential people of the last 1000 years! (Link borrowed from Dr. Tom Gibson!).

4. Physics Contributions of 20th Century Women! 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. In the 21st Century, women are now playing many prominent roles in physics and the physics community. For example, the current Executive Officer of the the American Physical Society (a huge organization of ~50,000 research physicists world-wide!) is Dr. Kate Kirby. Further, her predecessor was Dr. Judy Franz. In addition, the most recent past President of APS was Dr. Cherry Murray. An indication that women are currently and almost always have been working at the forefront of research in the sciences is the fact that many women have been awarded Nobel Prizes in the sciences. So far, though, only two women have been Nobel Laureates in Physics. .

WY Physics LogoThe 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.

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