Microstructural Evolution of Materials: Statistical Mechanics
Discover the principles of statistical mechanics that explain materials science phenomena.
Microstructural Evolution of Materials: Statistical Mechanics
Discover the principles of statistical mechanics that explain materials science phenomena.
In this first module of a four-part series of online modules, you will get an introduction to important concepts in statistical mechanics that are especially relevant to materials scientists. Topics include solid solutions, the canonical ensemble, and heat capacity.
What you'll learn
At the end of this first module of the course, you will be able to:
- Explain the entropy of a solid solution from a quantum mechanical perspective
- Understand the trends in heat capacity of a monatomic gas and an atomic solid
- Use the canonical distribution to explain both effect of gravitational force on the density of a gas and the origin of Curie’s law of paramagnetism.
Prerequisites
- University-level Calculus
- Structure of Materials or other similar course
- Thermodynamics; ideally, 3.012Tx: Thermodynamics of Materials
Meet your instructors
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John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Science and Engineering -
Principal Lecturer and Digital Learning Scientist
Juejun Hu
Juejun Hu
John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Professor Hu earned a BS in materials science and engineering at Tsinghua University in 2004 and a PhD in the same discipline at MIT in 2009. Before joining MIT, he was an assistant professor at the University of Delaware from 2010 to 2014. Professor Hu is a fellow of professional societies the American Ceramics Society, Optica, and SPIE.
Jessica Sandland
Jessica Sandland
Principal Lecturer and Digital Learning Scientist
Jessica Sandland is a principal lecturer in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), where she leads online learning initiatives-- developing massive open online courses (MOOCs), collaborating with faculty, researching best practices in online learning, and designing blended learning experiences for the MIT community. She has overseen the development of a wide variety of DMSE’s online courses, including 3.086x (Innovation and Commercialization), 3.032x (Mechanical Behavior of Materials), 3.024x (Electronic, Optical, and Magnetic Properties of Materials), 3.15x (Electrical, Optical and Magnetic Materials and Devices), and 3.054x (Cellular Solids).
Jessica is one of the co-founders and leads of the MICRO program, whose mission is to provide a remote research and education experience for engineering undergraduates from disadvantaged backgrounds. She also serves as a senior member of Open Learning’s Digital Learning Laboratory. Her current research interests include the utility of peer review in open online courses and the use of humor in MOOCs, and she’s received awards for Best Paper in ‘20 and ‘22 for her contributions to the IEEE LWMOOCs Conference. Jessica also received the 2019 MITx Prize for Teaching and Learning in MOOCs and was a finalist for the 2019 edX prize. Jessica holds a Ph.D. in electronic materials from MIT.