School of Computing prospectus 2012 - Walter Sisulu University

Statistical Mechanics & Solid State Physics
Code Course NQF Level Credits Semester
PHY3202 Statistical Mechanics & Solid
State Physics
Lectures per week Laboratory sessions per week Tutorials
per week
41
7 24 2
Number
of
weeks
4 x 50 min 2 x 180 min 2 x 50 min 15 240
Notional
hrs
Content / Syllabus: Statistical Mechanics: Statistical equilibrium; The Maxwell-Boltzmann
distribution law; Thermal equilibrium; Application to Ideal gas; Entropy and
heat in terms of statistical probability; Heat capacity of ideal monatomic and
an ideal polyatomic gas; The principle of equipartition of energy; The Einstein
Solid; Fermi-Dirac distribution law; The electron gas; Application of Fermi-
Dirac statistics to electrons in metals; Bose-Einstein distribution law; The
photon gas; Heat capacities of vibrating molecules and of solid bodies.
Solid State Physics: Crystals: binding, structure, defects and growing
techniques. Lattices dynamics: quantized vibrations, phonons and density of
states, specific heat capacity and Debye law. Free electron theory of metals:
density of states, specific heat capacity, electrical conductivity and Hall effect,
Pauli paramagnetism, thermionic emission. Comparison of metals, insulators,
semimetals and semiconductors, band structure. Magnetic properties of
materials: types of magnetism, susceptibility and permeability. Dielectrics:
polarization, temperature and frequency dependence of permittivity,
ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials. Semiconductors: holes and conduction
electrons, intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, donors and acceptors,
temperature dependency of electrical conductivity
Assessment: Modules mark (M) will be obtained from continuous assessment based on
quizzes, tutorials, seminar presentations, lab reports, and tests. The final mark
will be obtained from the Module mark (M) and Summative Assessment (E) in
the ratio 3:2.
Entry Assumptions/Pre-requisites: PHY2101, PHY2202, MAT2101, MAT2102, MAT2201, MAT2202
Co-requisites: None
2012
PROSPECTUS