\thermodynamics

Learn about laws of thermodynamics, enthalpy, entropy, heat transfer, SFEE, heat exchanger and many more

This book is a sequel to my Chemical Thermodynamics: A Prob­ lems Approach published in 1967, which concerned classical thermodynamics almost exclusively. Most books on statistical thermodynamics now available are written either for the superior general chemistry student or for the specialist. The author has felt the need for a text which would bring the intermediate reader to the point where he could not only appreciate the roots of the subject but also have some facility in calculating thermodynamic quantities. Although statistical thermodynamics comprises an essential part of the college training of a chemist, its treatment in general physical chem­ istry texts is, of necessity, compressed to the point where the less competent student is unable to appreciate or comprehend its logic and beauty, and is reduced to memorizing a series of formulas.

The importance of thermodynamics, particularly its Second Principle, to all branches of science in which systems with very large numbers of particles are involved cannot be overstated. This book offers a panoramic view of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Perhaps the two most attractive aspects of thermodynamic equilibrium are its stability and its independence from the specifics of the particular system involved. Does an equivalent exist for non-equilibrium thermodynamics? Many researchers have tried to describe such stability in the same way that the Second Principle describes the stability of thermodynamic equilibrium - and failed.

Due to the rapid advances in computer technology, intelligent computer software and multimedia have become essential parts of engineering education.

This introductory text treats thermodynamics as an incomplete description of quantum systems with many degrees of freedom. Its main goal is to show that the approach to equilibrium—with equilibrium characterized by maximum ignorance about the open system of interest—neither requires that many particles nor is the precise way of partitioning, relevant for the salient features of equilibrium and equilibration. Furthermore, the text depicts that it is indeed quantum effects that are at work in bringing about thermodynamic behavior of modest-sized open systems, thus making Von Neumann’s concept of entropy appear much more widely useful than sometimes feared, far beyond truly macroscopic systems in equilibrium.

This book presents different thermodynamic approaches in the area of constitutive theory: thermodynamics of irreversible processes, rational thermodynamics, and extended thermodynamics. These different approaches are analyzed with respect to their presuppositions, as well as to their results, and each method is applied to several important examples. In many cases these examples are archetypes for numerous technologically important materials; i.e. complex materials having an internal structure. Some of the examples dealt with in this book are liquid crystals, colloid suspensions, and fiber suspensions.

It is with great pleasure that we present this book to the public. In principle it is about thermodynamics, especially the simulation of thermo?uid systems. In popular opinion, thermodynamics is considered to be highly abstract and di?cult to comprehend with its many symbols. We endeavor to show the reader how simple and beautiful thermodynamics really is. To achieve this simplicity we apply two innovations: Forus,entropyisasubstance-likeconcept,akindofthermalcharge,analogous to the well-known electric charge, and not the abstract and incomprehensible Clausius integral.