Meteo 431 -- Atmospheric Thermodynamics
Syllabus -- Fall, 2002

Class: 2:30 - 3:20  Monday, Wednesday, Friday  in 103 Walker Building

Instructor: William Brune


Teaching Assistant : Bob Tarr

       530 Walker Building
        grt106@psu.edu

 

Textbook: Atmospheric Thermodynamics, by Craig Bohren and Bruce Albrecht

We will follow the textbook fairly closely, although my emphasis on certain subjects will be different from that of the authors. This syllabus and other class materials can be found on the Internet at the site:

http://www.ems.psu.edu/~brune/m431/m431syl2002.htm

I will post problem sets and answers to problem sets, quizzes, and tests on this Internet site.
 
 

Grading:     
in-class quizzes
 10 %
problem sets
 20 %
mid-term exam #1
 20 %
mid-term exam #2
 20 %
final exam
 30 %

For each exam, I will post a study sheet on the Internet site. If you can answer all the questions on the study sheet, you should do pretty well on the exam.

 In-class quizzes will be every Wednesday. They will consist of one or two questions requiring short answers about the material covered the previous week. If you read the text and your notes, you will be able to answer the questions.
 
 

  

Course Outline for Atmospheric Thermodynamics, Fall 2000:
 

I. Conservation of energy
      1. Introduction
      2. Conservation of energy
      3. The First Law of Thermodynamics
 
II. Ideal Gas Law: Pressure and Absolute Temperature
      1. Ideal Gas law
      2. Pressure, temperature, and measurements
      3. Vertical structure of atmospheric pressure
      4. Atmospheric pressure from the molecular point-of-view
      5. Dalton’s Law of gas mixtures
 
III. Adiabatic processes
      1. Enthalpy and specific heats
      2. Poisson’s relations
      3. Dry adiabatic lapse rate
      4. Stability and buoyancy
      5. Heat capacities of gases and gas mixtures
 
IV. Entropy
      1. Entropy of an ideal gas
      2. The Second Law of Thermodynamics
      3. Potential temperature
      4. The Carnot cycle and its applications
 
V. Water and its transformations
      1. Evaporation and condensation
      2. Clausius-Clapeyron Equation
      3. Phase diagrams for water vapor
      4. Free energy
      5. Chemical potential
      6. Henry’s law for gases in water
      7. Vapor pressure over small drops
      8. Influences of atmospheric trace gases on drop formation
 
VI. Moist air and clouds
      1. Precipitable water
      2. Virtual and wet bulb temperatures
      3. Equivalent and wet bulb potential temperatures
      4. Thermodynamic diagrams
      5. Stability and cloud formation
      6. Mixing clouds
 
VII. Energy, momentum, and mass transfer
      • Energy transfer
      • Momentum transfer
      • Mass transfer

Problems
     
    Problem set #1

    Problem set #2

    Problem set #3

    Problem set #4

    Problem set #5

    Problem set #6

    Problem set #7

    Problem set #8

    Problem set #9

Problem set solutions

Problem set #1 solutions

Problem set #2 solutions

Problem set #3 solutions

Problem set #4 solutions

Problem set #5 solutions

Problem set #6 solutions

Problem set #7 solutions

Problem set #8 solutions

Problem set #9 solutions


Exam  solutions

mid-term exam - 27 February

mid-term exam - 5 April




Figures

Additional figures - Chapter 5






Memorization.  Numerical values for some variables are so fundamental that they should be memorized.  You will not be given the following numerical values for exams, but answers to some questions may require them.


Avagadro's number
 		6.02 x 10 23 molecules mole -1
Acceleration due to gravity, g
 		9.8 m s -2
Molecular weight of dry air, Md
 		0.029 kg mole -1
Molecular weight of water vapor,  M v 0.018 kg mole -1
Universal gas constant, R*
 		8.3 J mole -1 K -1
Standard temperature and pressure (STP)
 		T = 273 K and p = 1013 hPa
Density of air at STP
 		1.29 kg m -3
Density of liquid water at 273 K
 		1000 kg m -3






     
Study guides and practice exams
 
    A problem solving procedure

    Study guide for midterm exam I_ ( New items added on Monday 25 February!!!)

    Study guide for midterm exam II

    Sample problems as study aids for final exam

    Solutions to sample problems as study aids for final exam

    Study guide for final exam