Kinetic Theory of Gases: Ideal and Van der Waals Models

In course

PHYS-105: Advanced physics II (thermodynamics)

Ce cours présente la thermodynamique en tant que théorie permettant une description d'un grand nombre de phénomènes importants en physique, chimie et ingéniere, et d'effets de transport. Une introduction à la physique statistique renforce les notions acqu ...

Description

This lecture covers the kinetic theory of gases, focusing on the ideal gas and van der Waals models. It begins with the relationship between pressure and particle velocity, explaining how collisions between particles and walls lead to pressure changes. The instructor discusses the assumptions of the kinetic theory, including the isotropic distribution of gas particles and their elastic collisions. The lecture also introduces the concept of energy equipartition, where each degree of freedom in a system stores an equal amount of energy. The derivation of the ideal gas law, PV = nRT, is presented, linking macroscopic properties like pressure and volume to microscopic behavior. The instructor emphasizes the importance of understanding the energy distribution among particles and how it relates to temperature. The lecture concludes with a discussion on the heat capacity of ideal gases and the implications of these concepts in statistical physics, providing a comprehensive overview of gas behavior at the molecular level.

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Instructors (2)

Jean-Philippe Ansermet

Jean-Philippe Ansermet was born March 1, 1957 in Lausanne (legal origin Vaumarcus, NE). He obtained a diploma as physics engineer of EPFL in 1980. He went on to get a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where, from 1985 to 1987, he persued as post-doc with Prof. Slichter his research on catalysis by solid state NMR studies of molecules bound to the surface of catalysts. From 1987 to 1992 he worked at the materials research center of Ciba-Geigy, on polymers for microelectronics, composites, dielectrics and organic charge transfer complexes. In March 1992, as professor of experimental physics, he developed a laboratory on the theme of nanostructured materials and turned full professor in 1995. Since 1992, he teaches classical mechanics, first to future engineering students, since 2004 to physics majors. Since 2000, he teaches thermodynamics also, to the same group of students. He offers a graduate course in spintronics, and another on spin dynamics. His research activities concern the fabrication and properties of magnetic nanostructures produced by electrodeposition. His involvement since the early days of spintronics have allowed him to gain recognition for his work on giant magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR), magnetic relaxation of single nanostructures, and was among the leading groups demonstrating magnetization reversal by spin-polarized currents. Furthermore, his group uses nuclear magnetic resonance , on the one hand as means of investigation of surfaces and electrodes, on the other hand, as a local probe of the electronic properties of complex ferromagnetic oxides.

Cécile Hébert

Cécile Hébert was born in France in 1970. She obtained her Ingeneer degree (physics) and her PhD degree (design of a new energy filter for transmission electron microscopy, under the direction of Prof. B. Jouffrey) at the Ecole Centrale in Paris. As a post doc with Prof. P. Schattschneider, she was working on the calculation of the fine structure of ionisation edges in EELS. As a research assistant at the Vienna University of Technology, she was one of the main participant to the CHIRALTEM project dealing with the measurement of magnetic circular dichroism in the electron microscope.

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