Learning objectives
Study in depth through history the basic concepts of a particular discipline such as quantum mechanics, thermodynamics and so on.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
<br />One of the following topics to be chosen year by year.<br /> <br />a) The development of classical thermodynamics <br /> <br />First ideas on the nature of heat - Thermometry in the 18th century - Black's experiments - The gas laws - ' Early thermodynamics' or caloric theory - Fourier and heat conduction - Rejection of imponderables - Discussion on the nature of radiant heat - The problem of 'dissipation of motion' - Joule's experiments - Principle of energy conservation - Conservation and dissipation - The problem of heat engine efficiency and the Carnot cycle - Carnot's principle in differential form - Kelvin: thermometric temperature and thermodynamically defined temperature - Clausius and the first law - Formulation of the second law by Clausius and Kelvin - The thermocouple as heat engine - The definition of entropy and the analytical expression of the second law - Entropy and catastrophism: the ideological manipulation of a scientific concept - Kelvin, porous plug experiment and enthalpy - From the thermodynamics of cycles to that of potentials - Cell thermodynamics -Gibbs thermodynamics - Axiomatization by Caratheodory.<br /> <br />b) The first phase of the quantum theory<br /> <br />The black body problem - Planck and the quantum of action-The Solvay congress of 1911 - Einstein and the quantum radiation - First applications of quantum concepts - Spectroscopy and atomic models before Bohr - Bohr's atomic model - Quantization rules - Adiabatic principle - Correspondence principle - Selection rules - Zeeman effect - The exclusion principle and electron spin.<br /> <br />c) The second scientific revolution<br /> <br />Laplace's physics - Rejection of imponderables - Fresnel and wave optics - Luminiferous ether - Conversion processes and ' the unity of nature' - Heat and mechanical work - Principle of energy conservation - Conservation and dissipation - Energetics - Discussion on action at dinstance or by contact - Faraday's field concept - Ether and field - Maxwell-Hertz theory and electromagnetic waves - The problem of motion through ether - Lorentz contribution - Problems of molecular physics - Kinetics theory of gases - Molecular physics and thermodynamics - The decline of mechanicism.<br /> <br />d) The evolution of statistical physics<br /> <br />Newton and the theory of gases - Daniele Bernouilli model - Atomism in chemistry - The nature of heat - Transport theories and atomic dimensions - The statistical approach of Maxwell-Boltzmann - Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics and statistical interpretation of thermdynamics - Loschmidt's and Zermelo's paradoxes - Maxwell's demon and information theory - Entropy and information - Brownian motion - Bose-Einstein statistic - Fermi-Dirac statistic - The Lenz and Ising model - Scale invariance and renormalization group.<br />
Full programme
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Bibliography
<br /> <br /> <br />a) <br /> <br />C. Truesdell: 'The tragicomical history of thermodynamics 1822-1854'<br />J.Kestin(Ed.): ' The second law of thermodynamics'<br />B.Carazza G:P:Guidetti: ' Origini e sviluppi della termodinamica ', Quaderno di Storia della Fisica I, 1977 pp111-130<br /> <br />b)<br /> <br />B.Carazza G.P.Guidetti: ' Le origini della teoria dei quanti'<br />M.Jammer: ' The conceptual development of quantum mechanics'<br /> <br />c)<br /> <br />P.M.Harman: 'Energia, forza e materia'<br />E.Bellone: ' Caos e armonia'<br />Wittaker: ' A history of the theories of aether and electricity'<br /> <br />d)<br /> <br />S.G.Brush: ' Statistical physics and the atomic theory of matter'<br />
Teaching methods
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Other information
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