Spring 2012 Syllabus for Ge215: Topics in Advanced Petrology
Revision 3/29/12
Interactive Lecture Course in Phase Equilibria
Instructor: Paul Asimow, Asimow@gps.caltech.edu, x4133, 253 Arms
Teaching Assistant: Emily Hamecher, Hamecher@gps.caltech.edu, x6863, 062b Arms
Course website: http://www.asimow.com/Ge215.html
Text: Ed StolperÕs notes from James B. ThompsonÕs GEOL253 at Harvard, ca. 1975, which are posted at http://www.asimow.com/ThermoPhaseEquilibria_JBT.pdf
PLEASE DO THE READING! THIS WILL BE CRITICAL TO US REACHING THE GOOD STUFF IN A 9-WEEK QUARTER!
Collaboration Policy: same as Ge101, http://www.asimow.com/Ge101policysheet.pdf
Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 – 2:30 PM and Wednesday 2:00 – 3:00 PM, in 251 Arms
Grading: 80% Problem Sets (expecting four sets, i.e. one about every two weeks)
20% Participation/Blackboard Performance (we are trying to develop the skill of constructing and translating among phase diagrams in real time)
Week 1 (4/3, 4/4, 4/5): Phase diagrams – one-component systems
Reading: JBT pages 1-92 !!!
I would like to skip over thermodynamic background material that is covered in Ge 212, so we can spend this quarter emphasizing the purely geometrical construction, visualization, and interpretation of phase diagrams, reaching all the possibilities in one-, two-, and three-component systems. Therefore I would like to assume that by the end of the first week you have read the first 92 pages of the notes and are familiar with: Terminology (pp. 1-5), the Laws of thermodynamics (pp. 6-16), the Gibbs-Duhem Equation (pp. 17-26), component choice and transformations (pp. 27-45), criteria for equilibrium (pp. 46-63), and the phase rule (pp. 63a-63b). This is a lot of material and some of it is obscure; look for key results in red boxes. As we move on, if we get to things that depend on details from this part of the course, weÕll go back and review it.
E-S-V space
Legendre transformations: F, H, G
Critical points
First look at metastable extensions, Schreinemakers I
Week 2: Computing a one-component system
Reading: Stolper and Asimow (2008)
No lectures.
Dedicated time for work alone and collectively on Problem Set #1, due 4/17
Week 3 (4/17, 4/18, 4/19) Two-component systems I
Reading: JBT 93-112; Zen (1966)
G-X diagrams and relationship to T-X and P-T spaces
Univariant phenomena: 3-phase, coincidence, critical line
Invariant phenomena I: 4-phase
Schreinemakers II
Week 4 (4/24, 4/25, 4/26) Two-component systems II
Reading: JBT 113-142
Problem Set #2 due 5/1
Invariant phenomena II: singular point, critical end-point
S-X diagrams and isentropic decompression of loop and eutectic
H-X diagrams and energy-controlled processes
Week 5 (5/1, 5/2, 5/3) Two-component systems III
Reading: JBT 143-167
Degeneracy in two-component systems
Week 6 (5/8, 5/9, 5/10) Ternary Systems I
Reading: JBT 168-191
Problem Set #3 due 5/15
G-X-X space, chemography, polythermal diagrams
Univariants: terminal and non-terminal, collinearity, coincidences, critical
Week 7 (5/15, 5/16, 5/17) Ternary systems II
Reading: JBT 198-218
Schreinemakers III
Invariant points
Week 8 (5/22, 5/23, 5/24) Ternary systems III
Reading: JBT 219-238
Problem Set #4 due 5/29
Degeneracies and subsystems
Week 9 (5/29, 5/30, 5/31) Higher order systems
Reading: JBT 239-247
Schreinemakers IV
Projection
Some metamorphic systems
Week 10 (optional, seniors excused! 6/5, 6/6, 6/7) Solution theories and phase diagrams
Reading: Akber-Knutson et al. (2005)
Henry and Raoult
Regular solutions
Extrapolating from incomplete data