Study guide for final exam

2022 - Wednesday, December 7, 1-3 PM @ SC203.

  • The test will be in person. Bring writing materials and a calculator (not on a phone).
  • The test will be open textbook.
  • You should prepare a page of notes (see below) before the exam period.

The intent of the test is to examine mostly over the material covered *since* the midterm. But several of the ideas of the first half--calculating work and heat in isothermal / isobaric / isochoric / adiabatic processes--was useful in what we've done since.

Prepare notes ahead of the exam

  • You may refer to your textbook during the exam.
  • I will distribute to each of you a copy of table 8.1 from your textbook.
  • I still encourage you to prepare a page of notes because,
    • It helps focus your studying to summarize.
    • There may be things from *my* notes that aren't in the textbook in the same way.
    • Might help you keep track of results which are very general and others which are very specific (for example, only apply to ideal gases).
    • It's a way of prioritizing which info is most important.
    • You'll have the most important notes at your fingertips and can sometimes avoid wildly flipping through your book in search of some result that you know is there.

    Carter Chapter 6

    The Second Law of Thermodynamics and Entropy

    Sections 6.1-6 & 6.8. (Not "Absolute Temperature")

    Entropy: a new state variable. Reversible and irreversible processes. Free expansion / reversible isothermal expansion / adiabatic expansion. Gibbs law.

    Carter Chapter 7

    Applications of the Second Law of Thermodynamics

    All sections. Calculating entropy changes for adiabatic / isothermal / isobaric / isochoric processes; For phase changes; For an ideal gas.

    • It is not necessary that you be able to derive the $T\,dS$ equations. But you should be able to use them.
    • For some of the entropy calculations (also chapter 6) you should be familiar with how you calculate reversible heat transfers using $c_P$ or $c_V$.
    • Thermal reservoirs - Heat enters a reservoir at the temperature of the reservoir. Reservoirs are useful as a simple model of the surroundings for many systems.

    Carter Chapter 8

    Thermodynamic Potentials

    Sections 8.1, 8.3-8. (Not 8.2 or 8.9).

    • I'll give you a copy of the extremely useful Table 8.1, with definitions of the potentials, so you don't need to put that in your notes.
    • Know which thermodynamic potentials are "stationary" (that is, minimum or maximum) at equilibrium, under which conditions.
    • In my class notes I departed somewhat from Carter, treating topics like phase separation, the Rankine cycle, and I had a different treatment (following Spakovsky) of the Clausius-Clapeyron equation.

    Carter Chapter 9

    The Chemical Potential

    All sections. I went into a bit more detail about using tables of enthalpy / entropy / Gibbs energy differences for chemical reactions.

    Carter Chapter 11

    The Kinetic Theory of Gases

    Sections 11.1-11.6. (Not 11.7-9.)

    Carter Chapter 12

    The connection between classical entropy and statistical mechanics entropy, $S\propto k_b\ln w$, Microstates (quantum states) and macrostates. The fundamental theorem of stat-mech, that all micro-states compatible with a given macrostate are equally likely.