Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics

[vladittude0583]

I am currently enrolled in PHY4523 - Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics where we are currently using "Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics" by F. Reif and I was wondering if there were any good recommendations as far as supplemental texts that I could use in helping me understand some of the core concepts in Statistical Mechanics? In addition, any textbook that contains a good amount of examples or problems with worked out solutions so that I can follow their reasoning would be greatly appreciated! On a side note, I have never taken probability theory prior to enrolling in PHY4523, thus, I am learning some of the concepts for the very first time. Thanks.

 

[Count Iblis]

That book by F. Reif is actually far better than most other commonly used textbooks. E.g. the book by Kittel on the same subject is i.m.o. horrible.

 

[jasonRF]

I too learned from Reif's book. One recent book that I think is quite different than Reif but easier reading is "Thermal Physics" by Schroeder. He doesn't do a ton of example problems for you, but has a very clear presentation with interesting applications. If I had to teach myself the subject these days, I would surely use Schroeder's book. I'm not aware of any books at this level that do a bunch of example problems for you. you may want to google to find posted solutions to homework problems for similar courses if you want some practice problems to work.

jason

 

[sr6622]

Here are a set of lecture notes from UT-Asutin which condense main points of the Reif textbook. I know that it may not be completely helpful for problem-solving, but it is beneficial for review.

http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/sm1/lectures.html