Boltzmann factor and heat engines papers accepted to Physical Review: Smith et al. (2015), and Smith et al. (2015)

Two papers from the thermal physics project have been accepted for publication in Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research.  Phys. Rev. ST – PER is publishing a Focused Collection on Physics Education Research in Upper Division Courses.

The two papers are both from the dissertation work of Trevor Smith.

  • T.I. Smith, D.B. Mountcastle, and J.R. Thompson, “Student understanding of the Boltzmann factor.”
  • T.I. Smith, W.M. Christensen, D.B. Mountcastle, and J.R. Thompson, “Identifying student difficulties with heat engines, entropy, and the Carnot cycle.”