his course will introduce you to the physical laws that govern the
behavior of systems consisting of large numbers of particles (where
"large" is on the order of Avagadro's number). Such systems are far
too complicated to describe using the tools that you have seen in
earlier courses (i.e. the laws of mechanics) since it is impossible,
even in principle, to write down the initial conditions let alone
solve the equations of motion. Nevertheless, such systems often follow
remarkably simple laws (such as the ideal gas law, Curie's law for
magnetic systems, and similar relations for superconductivity). In the
course we will see that there are a number of general "Thermodynamic"
laws that govern the behavior of "large" systems, irrespective of the
details of the interaction between the constituent particles. These
same laws hold for the workings of your automobile engine, the liquid
crystal display in your watch, chemical reactions, or even the inner
workings of the sun and the early behavior of the universe.

P: P202 or P222; MATH M311 concurrently.