About Certifications

Prove your mastery and get ready to tutor.

Become a Tutor

Learn, grow, and give back through tutoring.

Session Safety Measures

How we keep virtual tutoring safe.

Help Desk

Have questions? Search our FAQ.

Community Events

Game nights, product updates, and more.

Study Spaces

Stay motivated in virtual study rooms.

Leaderboards

Check out the community's impact.

Stories

Testimonials from the Schoolhouse community.

Blog

Keep up with our volunteer-run blog.

Enrichment • Series

Fundamental Concepts in Statistical Mechanics

Sam S

Series Details

Sessions

Public Discussion

This series ended on June 25, 2022. All 1:1 and group chats related to this series are disabled 7 days after the last session.

Series Details

About

In this series, I will rigorously develop the foundations of thermal physics: multiplicity, entropy, thermodynamic potentials, and Boltzmann and Gibbs statistics will be the main topics. Much of this course revolves around how to predict the behavior of a large number of particles without following the details of all their interactions. This kind of thinking helps us understand big, complex systems, like magnets, clouds, and even our own brains. You should be at minimum acquainted with introductory calculus and physics.

Tutor Qualifications

I took a course on Statistical Mechanics at my local university this past semester and got an A+. I'm an experienced physics tutor and USAPhO bronze medalist.

✋ ATTENDANCE POLICY

You can attend whichever sessions you like, but of course you will learn best if you attend all the sessions.

Dates

May 14 - June 25

Learners

17 / 20

Total Sessions

About the Tutor

I'm an undergraduate physics and mathematics student. In high school, I earned a bronze medal on the USAPhO and 5's on the Calculus BC, Physics 1, Physics C Mechanics, and Physics C E/M AP exams. I'm now excelling in advanced physics and math classes like Quantum Mechanics and Differential Geometry, and doing research on collective behavior in biological systems. I look forward to seeing you in one of my sessions!

View Sam S's Profile

Upcoming Sessions

Past Sessions

May

Session 1

Physics

Sat May 14, 2022, 3:30 PM

Microstates, macrostates, multiplicity, and entropy in the context of an Einstein Solid.

May

Session 2

Physics

Sat May 21, 2022, 3:30 PM

The 2nd Law and formal definitions of pressure, temperature, and chemical potential

May

Session 3

Physics

Sat May 28, 2022, 2:30 PM

This will be a review of the material covered in sessions 1 and 2, targeted at learners who are a bit lost or confused.

Session 4

Physics

Sat May 28, 2022, 3:30 PM

We'll discuss ensembles, the thermodynamic identity, and the Boltzmann distribution along with its application to the Hydrogen atom.

Jun

Session 5

Review

Sat Jun 4, 2022, 2:30 PM

We'll continue the review from last Saturday.

Session 6

Physics

Sat Jun 4, 2022, 3:30 PM

Problem-solving session. Come prepared to participate!

Jun

Session 7

Physics

Sat Jun 11, 2022, 3:30 PM

the canonical partition function
derivation of the equipartition theorem
a new definition of entropy (if time allows)

Jun

Session 8

Physics

Sat Jun 18, 2022, 3:30 PM

Free energy and phase transitions in the context of the Ising model.

Jun

Session 9

Physics

Sat Jun 25, 2022, 3:30 PM

I will discuss Kuramoto oscillators as a model of synchronization phenomena.

Public Discussion

Please log in to see discussion on this series.