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Chaion Analytics |
Statistical Mechanics:
a
Concise Introduction
Copyright © 2011 by Robert Finkel |
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Statistical mechanics, however, goes
beyond classical thermodynamics in that it gives the probability that the
system is in any particular state. A
variety of averages can then be performed. Here is a skeletal outline of statistical
mechanics and thermodynamics in a few Web pages, Derivations are not included
and, except for simple examples, applications are not developed here. Nevertheless, I hope you will find it a
good overview of the structure and tools of the subject. This outline assumes no prior study
of thermodynamics or statistics. Readers with a background of one year of
undergraduate calculus and one year of chemistry or physics are adequately
prepared. The individual sections are
relatively independent although I planned them in sequential order. This
outline is largely excerpted from a book that grew out of my lecture notes
for a one-semester course in statistical mechanics. My department was puzzled to hear that
requests for the notes far outstripped my class enrollment until we learned
that students from other classes in thermodynamics and physical chemistry
were using the notes as supplements. I
took this as symptomatic of a need for a Concise
Introduction to Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics. I kept the
format and flavor of the lecture notes in the book. The result is the antithesis of bloated
texts that are written to appease specialists. That minimalist philosophy is carried to an
extreme in this mini-course. Go
to Probabilities |
