1. Physics 176: Lecture 1 Thursday, 1/13/2011 Welcome!

2. Today's Goals: Orientation and A Pep Talk

3. Teaching Assistant for the Course: Marco Bertolini http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/Physics/grad/mb266

4. Names of Students ● Please help me to pronounce your name. ● Tell me whether you prefer a nickname.

5. Single Most Important Fact Today: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~hsg/176 http://www.phy.duke.edu/~hsg/176 – Bookmark this web page. Announcements – Read the course Announcements before each lecture or from time to time. – Blackboard used only for posting of grades. – Let me show you this website briefly: ● Announcements, syllabus, homeworks, etc

6. Read the Course Syllabus Carefully ● You are responsible for reading and understanding the syllabus. ● I will not discuss the details during class, but of course will be glad to answer any questions that you might have. ● I expect you to abide by the Duke Community Standard.Duke Community Standard

7. First Assignment Due Next Thursday ● First question is e-mail introduction, please email this by Sunday. ● In reciprocity, let me tell you briefly about myself...

8. End-of-Class Questionnaire ● I will hand these out now. ● At last minute of each class, I will ask you to write down the single question that you most wish to know the answer to. ● I will then post answers to as many questions as I can within a few days. ● These are anonymous: can use these also to give me feedback about course and lectures.

9. Why Come to Class? ● Insights, examples, discussions, and demos. ● Quizzes (first quiz Tue, Jan 25) ● I will be asking PRS (Personal Response System) questions to stimulate discussion and active critical thinking.

10. Handout PRS transmitters ● Turn on with slider switch. ● Make sure your transmitter detects my receiver.

11. PRS Question At absolute zero, all motion comes to a halt. T True F False

12. PRS Question: Equilibration of Two Identical Balloons When the valve between the two balloons is opened: (a) the balloons will become the same size (b) nothing will happen (c) the small balloon will become bigger but not as big as the bigger balloon. (d) the small balloon will become smaller.

13. Let's try the experiment

14. Some Demos ● Fire piston and Diesel engine ● Medical heat packs ● The dipping bird ● Blackbody radiation: why universal spectrum? Key for advancing cosmology.

15. Now Some Physics: The Big Picture ● Thermal physics one of four core areas in undergraduate physics, others being – classical Mechanics (CM) – electrodynamics (E&M) – quantum mechanics (QM) ● Thermal physics is arguably the broadest and most applicable of the four core topics, crucial whenever working with macroscopic objects. ● Extremely important in many frontiers: biology, chemistry, environmental science, engineering (mechanical, chemical, electrical, biomedical), even computer science.

16. Black-box Approach To Core Physics Areas ● Classical mechanics: given positions, velocities of N particles of known mass, calculate their future properties. Example: solar system. ● Electrodynamics: given initial electric and magnetic fields spread throughout space in presence of charges and currents, calculate future electric and magnetic fields, motion of charges and currents. ● QM: given finite system of particles and initial state ● |0>, calculate future state |t> and probabilities of experimental measurements.

17. ● Given large collection of particles of known mass, charge, and energy levels. ● Given certain macroscopic features such as temperature T and volume P. ● Calculate other macroscopic properties such as volume, heat capacity, compressibility, magnetization, possible phases. ● Time does not enter into thermal physics! ● Large number of particles is what makes the subject solvable, even though mechanics, QM impossible. ● Key new issue and insight: spontaneous behavior even when energy is constant, new concept of entropy. Blackbox Approach to Thermal Physics