Entropy
- A dissection of a sample space
- Entropy of a dissection of a sample space
Zhigang Suo's blog
Temperature
Entropy
Probability
- An experiment that has many possible outcomes
- Construct a sample space at a suitable level of detail
- Probability of an event
- Conditioning
- Independent events
- Random variable
- Use a random variable to specify an event
- Use a random variable to dissect a sample space
- Probability distribution of a random variable
- Variance of a random variable
- A dimensionless measure of the fluctuation of a random variable
Return to the outline of Statistical Mechanics
Statistical Mechanics
Update on 14 December 2019. By now I have taught undergraduate thermodynamics three times at Harvard. I have written up my lecture notes as a book, and posted the book online.
Here are sections that I have now:
Solid Mechanics Homework 11-15
This set of homework relies on a few elementary facts of the algebra of vectors and tensors. If you are vague about these facts, see some old notes I wrote when I taught ES 240 in 2006: node/205/revisions/1385/view
11. Positive-definite elastic energy density
12. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is a second-rank tensor.
13. Hooke's law for anisotropic, linearly elastic solids
14. Invariants of a tensor
15. A "derivation" of the Mises (1913) yield criterion
Solid Mechanics Homework 6-10
6. Post an entry in iMechanica to explain to your teaching staff and classmates why you take this class.
7. Residual stress around an inclusion
8. Lame Solution in Cylindrical Shape
9. Stress Concentration around a Circular Hole
10. Back-of-Envelope Calculation
Return to the outline of the course.
7 reasons to post your original ideas in iMechanica
1. iMechanica is free for all to use. iMechanica is hosted on a server at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, of Harvard University, and is managed by a team of volunteers -- mechanicians just like you. You pay nothing to post, and readers pay nothing to read. The limit of each upload file is 50MB, and each user is given 1GB server space.
Solid Mechanics Homework 1-5
Due 26 September 2008 in class
- Nothing Is Continuum, but...
- Hooke's law in various forms
- Compatibility: the strain-displacement relations
- Traction vector on a plane
- Turbine blade: centrifugal force and creep
Return to the outline of the course.
A Fresh Look at a Beautiful Subject
This is a review on Thermal Physics by Charles Kittle and Herbert Kroemer. I posted the review on Amazon on 2 December 2001.
This is by far THE BEST textbook on the subject. As many people say, thermodynamics is a subject that one has to learn at least three times. I can easily understand the very negative review from the undergraduate student at Berkely. The subject itself is hard, and simply is not for everyone, not for the first run at least. I say this from experience. I earned a Ph.D. degree over ten years ago, and took courses on thermodynamics at both undergraduate and graduate levels. I didn't understand the subject at all, and didn't find much use in my thesis work. However, something about the subject has kept me going back to it ever since. I now own about 40 books on the subject, and use the ideas almost daily in my research.