Old Announcements

18 Jan 2013: I updated the course schedule today (changed the reading assignments for lectures 8&9).

16 Jan 2013: I updated the thermodynamic glossary today after class.  Please download a new copy.

16 Jan 2013: On HW 5.3, it would have been better to ask which processes are reversible rather than asking which ones are spontaneous.  Only the "free expansion" process is irreversible.  But I indicated careful quasi-static control of the expansion, some of you argued that we aren't allowing the free expansion to proceed spontaneously.  For that example, I agree.  But in general, a spontaneous process can proceed slowly enough without controls to be called quasi-static.

14 Jan 2013:  On HW4.3, disregard the last sentence, which was intended for the black-body radiation problem.  This obviously is an ideal gas problem.  It was defined that way.  But this case is not isothermal.

11 Jan 2013:  Here's an important point that I forgot to mention on Monday, but remembered in class today (Friday).  Always draft your HW problems on scratch paper.  Then copy the final version onto the sheets handed out in class for submission.  Messy HW sheets won't receive full credit (beginning with HW3).

11 Jan 2013: On HW3.1, only consider regions of state space where the candidate entropy functions are real valued.

7 Jan 2013: The first homework is due before class on Wednesday.  Be sure to complete the pre-class reading before you come.  I posted a list of textbook errata to the resource page today.  You should keep this on hand when completing reading assignments.

7 Jan 2013: I think that the iClicker registration link has been fixed.  Let me know if you still have trouble with it.

December 2012: If you don't receive a course CID via email by the first day of class, get one at http://gardner.byu.edu/cid.  If you haven't registered your iClicker, do it here.  Note that homework assignments should be downloaded, printed, and worked in the spaces provided; feel free to draft your problems on scratch paper -- the submitted versions should be clean and polished.