Principles of Thermodynamics

Book Name: Principles of Thermodynamics
Author: Jean-Philippe Ansermet, Sylvain D. Brechet
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN-13: 978-1-108-42609-1
Year: 2019
Pages: 529 / 542
Language: English
File size: 11.50 MB
File format: PDF

Principles of Thermodynamics Pdf Book Description:

In this introductory textbook, thermodynamics is presented as a natural extension of mechanics so that the laws and concepts learned in mechanics serve to get acquainted with the theory. The foundations of thermodynamics are presented in the first part. The second part covers a wide range of applications, which are of central importance in the fields of physics, chemistry and engineering, including calorimetry, phase transitions, heat engines and chemical reactions. In the third part, devoted to continuous media, Fourier and Fick’s laws, diffusion equations and many transport effects are derived using a unified approach. Each chapter concludes with a selection of worked examples and several exercises to reinforce key concepts under discussion. A full solutions manual is available at the end of the book. It contains more than 150 problems based on contemporary issues faced by scientists and engineers that are solved in detail for undergraduate and graduate students. This book is broken up into four parts. The first part of the book gathers the formal tools of thermodynamics, such as the thermodynamic potentials and Maxwell relations. The second part illustrates the thermodynamic approach with a few examples, such as phase transitions, heat engines and chemical reactions. The third part deals with continuous media, including a chapter that is devoted to interactions between electromagnetic fields and matter. A formal development of the thermodynamics of continuous media results in the description of numerous transport laws, such as the Fourier, Fick or Ohm laws and the Soret, Dufour or Seebeck effects.

Thermodynamics is a theory which establishes the relationship between the physical quantities that characterise the macroscopic properties of a system. In this textbook, thermodynamics is presented as a physical theory which is based upon two fundamental laws pertaining to energy and entropy, which can be applied to many different systems in chemistry and physics, including transport phenomena. By asserting that energy and entropy are state functions, we eliminate the need to master the physical significance of differentials. Thus, thermodynamics becomes accessible to anyone with an elementary mathematical background. As the notion of entropy is introduced early on, it is readily possible to analyse out-of-equilibrium processes taking place in systems composed of simple blocks. Students engaging with thermodynamics have the opportunity to discover a broad range of phenomena. However, they are faced with a challenge. Unlike Newtonian mechanics where forces are the cause of acceleration, the mathematical formalism of thermodynamics does not present an explicit link between cause and effect.