Understanding the content: Statistical mechanics theory

The panel on the right of this page contains links to videos on the topics we are studying as part of this chapter. On the pages for each of these videos you will find a link to a worksheet containing comprehension questions. You should print out the comprehension questions, watch the video and try to answer the comprehension questions based on the ideas that are explained in the video. If you are struggling to answer any question please come and ask.

A video on the Khinchine axioms for information theory in which the information contained in a uniform distribution is derived.
topic: Information theory
author: G. Tribello
A video in which the information contained in a non-uniform distribution is derived.
topic: Information theory
author: G. Tribello
A video explaining Lagrange's method of undetermined multipliers.
topic: Lagrange multipliers
author: G. Tribello
An introductory video on statistical mechanics that introduces the terms microstates and phase space.
topic: The generalized partition function
author: G. Tribello
A video introducing in which the form of the generalised partition function is derived by performing a constrained optimisation of the information.
topic: The generalized partition function
author: G. Tribello
A video explaining how the entropy in the generalised ensemble is calculated.
topic: The generalized partition function
author: G. Tribello
A video explaining how an expression for the change in entropy can be derived in statistical mechanics.
topic: The generalized partition function
author: G. Tribello
A video demonstrating how some ensemble averages can be calculated by taking derivatives of the partition function.
topic: The generalized partition function
author: G. Tribello
A video describing how the partition function for a molecular gas can be decomposed in terms of translational, rotational and vibrational parts.
topic: The partition function for molecular gasses
author: G. Tribello
An introduction to the isothermal isobaric ensemble and its partition function.
topic: The isothermal isobaric ensemble
author: G. Tribello
A video explaining how an expression for the partition function of an ideal gas is calculated.
topic: The ideal gas model
author: G. Tribello
An explanation of the difference between first order and continuous phase transitions.
topic: The theory of phase transitions
author: G. Tribello
A video discussing how the behavior of systems at phase transitions can be reconciled with the predictions of statistical thermodynamics.
topic: The theory of phase transitions
author: G. Tribello
A video explaining how the van der Waals equation of state can be derived by considering a gas of hard spheres.
topic: The Cluster expansion approximation
author: G. Tribello

Contact Details

School of Mathematics and Physics,
Queen's University Belfast,
Belfast,
BT7 1NN

Email: g.tribello@qub.ac.uk
Website: mywebsite