Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics

Full course description

Thermodynamics is the study of many-particle systems in terms of their macroscopic quantities such as temperature, heat, energy, and entropy. Statistical Physics relates these macroscopic quantities to the microscopic properties such as kinetic and rotational energy and vibrations, using statistics. In this course, participants will achieve comprehension of the fundamentals of Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics. We cover the major elements of this subject: temperature and heat, thermal properties of matter, the laws of thermodynamics, entropy, enthalpy and free energy, the relation between macroscopic parameters and microscopic dynamics, and the statistics of thermodynamic ensembles. Each of these subjects is taught on a theoretical level as lectures, and trained on a practical level with exercises and by using knowledge in applied situations in PBL tasks.