Thermal and Statistical Physics

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How do I get started?

Believe it or not, the idea that matter is made of atoms was not firmly established until a little more than a century ago. Once physicists knew that matter is made of atoms, a huge research opportunity presented itself: how can the macroscopic properties of gasses, liquids, and solids be connected to the properties of atoms? It is not possible to follow the motion of all 6x10²³ atoms in a mole of gas, so how can one understand gasses in terms of atoms? The answer turns out to be a statistical approach in which the motion of individual atoms is not determined. For example, we can consider an “ideal gas” to be a collection of point masses (masses with no volume) than bounce off walls elastically. From this we can use statistics and mechanics to derive the well-known laws describing how the pressure of a gas depends on its temperature and volume, for example.

If you like physics and you like maths, statistical physics may be your favourite subject at university. It certainly a powerful tool that produces remarkable results and is used by researchers in many areas of physics.

How do I get started?

As a physics major at Vic you will use the ideas of statistical physics in lots of classes, but a more intense study of the subject is offered in Phys 305 – Thermal Physics.

The equation below describes the statistical behaviour of some kinds of particles: