group Small Group Activity

10 min.

Thermal radiation at twice the temperature

Contemporary Challenges 2022 (3 years)

Stefan-Boltzmann blackbody radiation

This small group activity has students reasoning about how the Planck distribution shifts when the temperature is doubled. This leads to a qualitative argument for the Stefan-Boltzmann law.

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Grey space capsule

Contemporary Challenges 2022 (3 years)

blackbody Stefan-Boltzmann Law

In this small group activity, students work out the steady state temperature of an object absorbing and emitting blackbody radiation.

face Lecture

30 min.

Review of Thermal Physics

Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020

thermodynamics statistical mechanics

These are notes, essentially the equation sheet, from the final review session for Thermal and Statistical Physics.

face Lecture

120 min.

Thermal radiation and Planck distribution

Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020

Planck distribution blackbody radiation photon statistical mechanics

These notes from the fourth week of Thermal and Statistical Physics cover blackbody radiation and the Planck distribution. They include a number of small group activities.

face Lecture

120 min.

Ideal Gas

Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020

ideal gas particle in a box grand canonical ensemble chemical potential statistical mechanics

These notes from week 6 of Thermal and Statistical Physics cover the ideal gas from a grand canonical standpoint starting with the solutions to a particle in a three-dimensional box. They include a number of small group activities.