Please note that the information on this page was intended for students enrolled in the residential MIT course and is included to provide insight into how the course was conducted in Spring 2021. OCW is not a distance education program, and we do not offer instructor interactions, grading, or certification of completion.
Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 3 sessions / week, 1 hour / session (attendance encouraged)
Recitations: 1 session / week, 1 hour / session (optional)
Labs: 3 sessions, 2 hours / session
Prerequisites/Corequisites
Chemistry (GIR) is a prerequisite. This requirement can be met with one of the following MIT courses:
- 3.091 Introduction to Solid-State Chemistry or 3.091SC*
- 5.111 Principles of Chemical Science or 5.111SC*
- 5.112 Principles of Chemical Science
18.03 Differential Equations or the Honors version 18.032 is a corequisite, meaning students can take 3.020 and 18.03 (or 18.032) at the same time.
Go to the instructor insights section for more details about how this course fits into the MIT Curriculum.
*“SC” denotes an OCW Scholar version of a course. OCW Scholar courses contain complete multi-media resources designed for independent learners and are organized sequentially.
Course Description
This course introduces the competition between energetics and disorder that underpins materials thermodynamics. Classical thermodynamic concepts are presented in the context of phase equilibria, including phase transformations, phase diagrams, and chemical reactions. The course also covers computerized thermodynamics and provides an introduction to statistical thermodynamics.
Texts for the Course
There is one required textbook:
Robert DeHoff, Thermodynamics in Materials Science, 2nd edition, CRC Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780849340659.
Additional, required supplementary readings will be from the following textbooks:
- Chapter 4: “Equilibria of Reactions Involving Gases.” Kenneth Denbigh, The Principles of Chemical Equilibrium, 4th edition, Cambridge, 1981. ISBN: 9780521281508.
- Chapter 9: “Phase Diagrams.” William D. Callister, Jr., and David G. Rethwisch, Materials Science and Engineering, 8th edition, Wiley, 2009. ISBN: 9780470419977.
- Chapter 3: “Statistical Mechanics.” David Chandler, Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics, Oxford, 1987. ISBN: 9780195042771.
Lectures
- Lectures will be held live (i.e. synchronously) over Zoom.
- Attendance is encouraged, but it is not required and will not be graded.
- Lectures will be recorded for later viewing.
Recitations
- Recitations will be held live over Zoom in two sessions.
- Attendance is encouraged, but it is not required and will not be graded.
- Recitations will not be recorded.
- Students will be assigned to recitation at the start of the semester; if you need to change your recitation time, please first confirm with the instructors.
Laboratories
- Laboratories will be held in both in-person and live virtual formats.
- Students will participate in three two-hour lab experiments during the term, with mandatory attendance (either virtual or in-person). Students will be individually assigned to specific lab groups and corresponding meeting times.
- Virtual laboratory sections will be recorded and made available for registered students.
Communication-Intensive Activities
This course satisfies MIT’s CI-M requirement through two communication-focused activities associated with the lab component. These activities will consist of (i) a virtual oral presentation on a technical topic related to the course subject material, aimed at a general audience, and (ii) a written review of an active research field, aimed at a technical audience. Details of these activities will be provided. Students will also participate in communication-focused instruction sessions during scheduled lab and recitation times.
Evaluation
The contributions to the final grade will be 65% from lecture and 35% from laboratory and CI-M components.
The lecture grade will be determined by the following:
- 50% problem sets: 10 problem sets, with equal weighting
- 50% exams: 3 exams, of equal length and weighting (including the final)
The laboratory and CI-M grades will be determined by the following:
- 20% lab reports: Short virtual student-recorded videos summarizing key lab results, to be submitted for each lab experiment
- 35% Oral presentation
- 45% Written review article
Problem Sets
- Problem sets will be due at 10 a.m. Eastern on the due date.
- We encourage you to work in groups on the problem sets. However, you should write up your own problem-set solutions, and acknowledge the names of the students with whom you worked in your submission.
Exams
- Exams are open-book; you have all resources at your disposal.
- You may not discuss the exam with other students on the day of the exam.
- Exams are written for a 60-minute time period; the total time period allowed will be 75 minutes, to allow 15 minutes to upload your work on the website.
- Exams are intended to be challenging.
- We strongly encourage you to work strategically, and to stop work after 60 minutes, to avoid running short of time to upload.
- You can take the exam at any time within a 24-hour window on the day of the exam; i.e., the window to take the test begins at 12:00:01 am Eastern and ends at 11:59:59 pm Eastern on the test date.
- Once you download the exam, your 75-minute period begins.
