The course covers the fundamentals of classical thermodynamics as applied to simple gases & liquids, polymers and their solutions, as well as interfaces.  These fundamentals are necessary to understand every-day phenomena including how trees feed nutrients to their canopies, modern strategies of shampoo formulation, the behaviour of “silly-putty” toys, and the constraints on the work performance of engines, amongst countless other examples.

The course is comprised of three equi-sized blocks:

BLOCK 1:  Introduces classical thermodynamics using a statistical description. (In some textbooks, this is referred to as introductory statistical thermodynamics.)  The lecturer develops and apllies the tools/concepts to describe the behaviour of gases, simple liquids, as well as phase (gas-liquid) phase equilibrium and liquid mixtures.

BLOCK 2: Builds/reinforces these tools/concepts by using them to describe the behaviour of single polymer chains, such as DNA or proteins, as well as solutions of polymers.  Liquid mixtures are then revisited, with a description of de-mixing and partial mixing (refereed to as phase separation), with a simple extension to polymer solutions.  The lecturer also introduces transport properties of simple fluids (diffusion, viscosity, and thermal/electric conductivity) and extends these to liquid solutions.

BLOCK 3 : Applies the classical thermodynamics principles to the description of interfacial phenomena, including wettability, capillarity, and the effects of surface-active molecules or surfactants.