In this course we discuss the fundamentals of statistical thermodynamics, building up complexity from simple monatomic ideal gases to highly interacting dense liquids. The main goal of the subject is to link the microscopic world of molecular energy levels and dynamics with the macroscopic world of bulk thermodynamics and kinetics.
In this course we:
- explore the link between thermodynamic properties and partition functions in the microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles
- derive the properties of monatomic, diatomic and polyatomic ideal gases
- compare the quantum mechanics and classical mechanics approach to statistical mechanics
- interpret chemical equilibria from molecular properties
- derive the properties of strongly interacting gases and liquids
- introduce the application of statistical mechanics to time-dependent phenomena