Recommended Problems

An Introduction to Thermal Physics

Daniel V. Schroeder, Department of Physics, Weber State University


Because the book contains so many problems, first-time instructors and students using the book for self-study may appreciate the following "recommended" list. These are the problems that I would recommend working in a first course, or when reading through the book for the first time. Disclaimers: (1) A lot of my choices below are pretty arbitrary; in many cases an alternate problem could serve just as well. (2) This list avoids many of the more "interesting" problems, because these can be too distracting and time-consuming during a first course or first reading; however, I would encourage good students to choose a few additional problems that they find most interesting. (3) I recommend that you read every problem, even on a first reading, to get a feel for what else you could do at each stage. (4) Although I've listed problems for almost every section of the book, this isn't meant to imply that you should cover every section in a first course or a first reading; just ignore the recommendations for sections that you're not covering.

Chapter 1: Energy in Thermal Physics

Chapter 2: The Second Law Chapter 3: Interactions and Implications Chapter 4: Engines and Refrigerators Chapter 5: Free Energy and Chemical Thermodynamics Chapter 6: Boltzmann Statistics Chapter 7: Quantum Statistics Chapter 8: Systems of Interacting Particles Appendix A: Elements of Quantum Mechanics Appendix B: Mathematical Results

Last modified on January 23, 2006.