212 Pages
by
Taylor & Francis
208 Pages
by
Taylor & Francis
Also available as eBook on:
This text gives students a clear and easily understood introduction to entropy - a central concept in thermodynamics, but one which is often regarded as the most difficult to grasp. Professor Dugdale first presents a classical and historical view of entropy, looking in detail at the scientists who developed the concept, and at how they arrived at their ideas. This is followed by a statistical... Read more
Part 1 Entropy in thermodynamics: temperature and heat - some historical developments; temperature and heat - a different approach; the first law of thermodynamics; the second law of thermodynamics; entropy - how it is measured and how it is used; entropy in irreversible changes. Part 2 The statistical interpretation of entropy: the statistical approach - a specific example; general ideas and development; the definition of a microstate; temperature and entropy in statistical mechanics; applications to solids; applications to gases - 1 - the classical approximation, 2 - Bose Einstein and Fermi-Dirac gases; fluctuation and Maxwell's demon. Part 3 Entropy at low temperatures: the third law of thermodynamics; low temperatures; the third law of thermodynamics and the unattainability of absolute zero.
Biography
Sydney Dugdale is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics, University of Leeds.
