Molecular theory can be considered as a preliminary to statistical physics. While the latter employs a more sophisticated formalism encompassing quantum-mechanical systems, the former operates with a classical ideal gas. Molecular theory studies the relation between the temperature of the gas and the kinetic energy of the molecules, pressure on the walls due to the impact of the molecules, dist...

The field of thermodynamics is easiest to understand in the context of Newtonian mechanics. Newtonian mechanics describes the effect of forces on objects. Thermodynamics describes the effect of heat transfer on objects. When heat is transferred,the temperature of an object changes.Temperature and heat are also intimately related to energy. A hot gas in a piston has a high pressure and it can do...

Course Description Covers classical thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. Fundamental laws of thermodynamics, thermodynamics potentials and Legendre transforms, equations of state, chemical equilibrium, statistical mechanics, relationship between entropy and probabilities, classical gasses, liquids, and solids, pair correlation functions, Ising model, renormalization group theory, Brownian ...