Struggling with Thermal Physics? Any Suggestions?

[Winzer]

I don't know why, but my weak point has always been thermo. I am taking thermal physics and I am finding it difficult. I don't have a problem with Classical Mechanics, E&M. Even quantum I don't find nearly as difficult to DO as thermo. To make things even more difficult, my class does not have a set text. Has anyone else had trouble with thermal physics? I am open to suggestions.

 

[atyy]

http://books.google.com/books?id=FW4Oz48TWwQC

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

Yes, I find it myself difficult, I got in my exam 72/118 points, it's interesting and I guess that if I have gone to the second chance exam, I would have got higher grades ,by learning from my mistakes of the past.
But I guess there are some that no matter how, will never get it.
I guess it's all because your'e not always undersatnd the conditions and hypotheses you need to use, either because the lecturer glimpsed over it, or because you were unaware of a simple equation.

I myself photocopied (from a girl! (-: ) some of the material cause it overlapped with calculus 3 and not all of the material was there or at least I couldn't find it,Wien's Law, I can't even remember looking at this equation, and I had something like two weeks to learn for the exam but got distracted from a murdering of a young girl, I'm telling you, watching TV is evil.

 

[Winzer]

Yes, I find it myself difficult, I got in my exam 72/118 points, it's interesting and I guess that if I have gone to the second chance exam, I would have got higher grades ,by learning from my mistakes of the past.
But I guess there are some that no matter how, will never get it.
I guess it's all because your'e not always undersatnd the conditions and hypotheses you need to use, either because the lecturer glimpsed over it, or because you were unaware of a simple equation.

I myself photocopied (from a girl! (-: ) some of the material cause it overlapped with calculus 3 and not all of the material was there or at least I couldn't find it,Wien's Law, I can't even remember looking at this equation, and I had something like two weeks to learn for the exam but got distracted from a murdering of a young girl, I'm telling you, watching TV is evil.

I agree with you on that one. In mechanics things are intuitive, and I have at least a direction. Some of the intuitive things in mechanics crosses over to E&M. Q&M I can DO(learning from Griffiths). Some of thermo so intuitive, obvious things like like conservation of energy. But when it comes to heavy lifting applications with maxwells relations, gibbs, and helmholz, I am just dead in the water. I still struggle with even some basic thermo stuff!

 

[Winzer]

http://books.google.com/books?id=FW4Oz48TWwQC

Thanks, I am going to the library tomorrow to check it out.