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entropy
ISSN 1099-4300
www.mdpi.org/entropy/
Book Received*
This book provides a solid introduction to the classical and statistical theories of thermodynamics
(http://vig.prenhall.com/catalog/academic/product/1,4096,0137792085,00.html).
Table of Contents
The Gay-Lussac-Joule Experiment. The Joule-Thomson Experiment. Heat Engines and the Carnot
Cycle.
6. The Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Introduction. The Mathematical Concept of Entropy. Irreversible Processes. Carnot's Theorem. The
Clausius Inequality and the Second Law. Entropy and Available Energy. Absolute Temperature.
Combined First and Second Laws.
7. Applications of the Second Law.
Entropy Changes in Reversible Processes. Temperature-Entropy Diagrams. Entropy Change of the
Surroundings for a Reversible Process. Entropy Change for an Ideal Gas. The Tds Equations.
Entropy Change in Irreversible Processes. Free Expansion of an Ideal Gas. Entropy Change for a
Liquid or Solid.
8. Thermodynamic Potentials.
Introduction. The Legendre Transformation. Definition of the Thermodynamic Potentials. The
Maxwell Relations. The Helmholtz Function. The Gibbs Function. Application of the Gibbs
Function to Phase Transitions. An Application of the Maxwell Relations. Conditions of Stable
Equilibrium.
9. The Chemical Potential and Open Systems.
The Chemical Potential. Phase Equilibrium. The Gibbs Phase Rule. Chemical Recessions. Mixing
Processes.
10. The Third Law of Thermodynamics.
Statements of the Third Law. Methods of Cooling. Equivalence of the Statements. Consequences of
the Third Law.
11. The Kinetic Theory of Gases.
Basic Assumptions. Molecular Flux. Gas Pressure and the Ideal Gas Law. Equipartition of Energy.
Specific Heat Capacity of an Ideal Gas. Distribution of Molecular Speeds. Mean Free Path and
Collision Frequency. Effusion. Transport Processes.
12. Statistical Thermodynamics.
Introduction. Coin-Tossing Experiment. Assembly of Distinguishable Particles. Thermodynamic
Probability and Entropy. Quantum States and Energy Levels. Density of Quantum States.
13. Classical and Quantum Statistics.
Bloltzmann Statistics. The Method of Lagrange Multipliers. The Boltzmann Distribution. The
Fermi-Dirac Distribution. The Bose-Einstein Distribution. Dilute Gases and the Maxwell-
Boltzmann Distribution. The Connection between Classical and Statistical Thermodynamics.
Comparison of the Distributions. Alternative Statistical Models.
14. The Classical Statistical Treatment of an Ideal Gas.
Thermodynamic Properties from the Partition Function. Partition Function for a Gas. Properties of a
Monatomic Ideal Gas. Applicability of the Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution. Distribution of
Molecular Speeds. Equipartition of Energy. Entropy Change of Mixing Revisited. Maxwell's
Demon.
15. The Heat Capacity of a Diatomic Gas.
Entropy 2002, 4 167
*Editor's Note: The brief summary and the contents of the books are reported as provided by the
author or the publishers. Authors and publishers are encouraged to send review copies of their recent
books of potential interest to readers of Entropy to the Editor-in-Chief (Dr. Shu-Kun Lin, MDPI,
Matthaeusstrasse 11, CH-4057 Basel, Switzerland. Tel. +41 79 322 3379, Fax +41 61 302 8918, E-
mail: lin@mdpi.org). Some books will be offered to the scholarly community for the purpose of
preparing full-length reviews.