PHYS 224, Winter 2003
Thermal Physics

Notes

This page will contain links to resources, reference material, and java applets. I am organizing and adding to it as we go along.  Your suggestions for useful links are most welcome.

Here is the course web page from the last quarter, Autumn 2002.  The syllabus for that term was very different from ours, but there are some useful resources there.

Wolfram Reseach web resource - thermodynamics  New!

Hyperphysics - thermodynamics

Fluid mechanics
Special challenging questions for your diversion:
(1) (buoyancy) Quicksand (or mud) is much denser than the human body.  So why do people sink in it?!  Why do their eyes bulge before they disappear?  [Flying Circus of Physics, Q 4.130]
(2) (pressure) If you try to pour water into a coiled up hosepipe (wound around a horizontal axis and open at both ends) it often just won't go through, even if you're holding the end you're pouring into way up.  Why?  [Flying Circus, Q 4.8]
(3) Why do bugs explode over the windshield of a fast-moving car?  [Flying Circus, Q 4.28]

Aerodynamics of bicycles - a crash course in fluid dynamics.  Why do golf balls have dimples?

Applets:: Hydrostatic Pressure; Archimedes' Principle; Buoyancy forceWing Lift (simple)Wing Lift (advanced);
Various: Soap antibubbles; Pacific Northwest HydroprojectsFirst balloon to go around the world
Life at low Reynolds number - a classic article by EM Purcell.
Sucking water through a straw; Magdeburg Spheres; Soap Bubblesvortex shedding simulation movie

Temperature, thermal equilibrium - essay on temperature.

Ideal gas equation - Ideal gas equation - plot it

Kinetic theory of gases and distribution functions
2-D java Pressure Model with no collisions and equal speeds
2-D java model with collisions and distribution of velocities
Flowchart of kinetic theory and related theories, including mean free path
Derivation of Maxwell velocity distribution
Charged particles in a box
Atmosphere model and Boltzmann distribution
Kinetic theory simulation fixed volume with distribution of velocities and gravity
Kinetic theory - molecules in a balloon; 
1-D one-atom gas pressure model
Lies, damn lies, and statistics: histogram bin sizes

Diffusion
Brownian Motion java model of a single particle
Brownian diffusion of particles into a fluid

Heat and the First Law
Hyperphysics
Beer and ice cream diet - Where's the catch?
Phase diagram of water
Phase transition temperatures
Ideal gas equation - play with isobaric, isochoric, isothermal and adiabatic changes
Stop Nuclear Disaster

Heat flow
Black Body Radiation
Leidenfrost effect (How I can pour liquid nitrogen over my hand without getting burnt) 

Engines
Carnot Cycle, Another Carnot Engine
Otto Cycle, Another Otto Cycle
Diesel Cycle
Stirling CycleOperation of the Stirling engine
Animations of historic pumps, engines, etc

Second Law
Bouncing ball
Mixing gases

Phases
Tutorial on phase diagrams
PVT-surface

Laser Cooling
Bose-Einstein Condensation

Other links
Bubble puzzles
Atmosphere Model
Psychic Motor
Thermal Physics Jokes
Entropy on the World Wide Web
Satellite Tracker
Layers of the earth's atmosphere

Last modified: 3/13/2003 11:26 am