General Thermodynamics

Because classical thermodynamics evolved into many branches of science and engineering, most undergraduate courses on the subject are taught from the perspective of each area of specialization. General Thermodynamics combines elements from mechanical and chemical engineering, chemistry (including electrochemistry), materials science, and b

This book is an introductory text on dynamic meteorology and is the result of Professor Riegel's long years of teaching experience. The approach is very pedagogical. Many examples are provided to illustrate basic concepts and ideas. The text is suitable for a one- or two-semester course.

Although the basic theories of thermodynamics are adequately covered by a number of existing texts, there is little literature that addresses more advanced topics. In this comprehensive work the author redresses this balance, drawing on his twenty-five years of experience of teaching thermodynamics at undergraduate and postgraduate level, to produce a definitive text to cover thoroughly, advanced syllabuses. The book introduces the basic concepts which apply over the whole range of new technologies, considering: a new approach to cycles, enabling their irreversibility to be taken into account; a detailed study of combustion to show how the chemical energy in a fuel is converted into thermal energy and emissions; an analysis of fuel cells to give an understanding of the direct conversion of chemical energy to electrical power; a detailed study of property relationships to enable more sophisticated analyses to be made of both high and low temperature plant and irreversible thermodynamics, whose principles might hold a key to new ways of efficiently covering energy to power (e.g. solar energy, fuel cells). Worked examples are included in most of the chapters, followed by exercises with solutions. By developing thermodynamics from an explicitly equilibrium perspective, showing how all systems attempt to reach a state of equilibrium, and the effects of these systems when they cannot, the result is an unparalleled insight into the more advanced considerations when converting any form of energy into power, that will prove invaluable to students and professional engineers of all disciplines.

This textbook provides comprehensive information on general and statistical thermodynamics. It begins with an introductory statistical mechanics course, deriving all the important formulae meticulously and explicitly, without mathematical shortcuts. In turn, the main part of the book focuses on in-depth discussions of the concepts and laws of thermodynamics, van der Waals, Kelvin and Claudius theories, ideal and real gases, thermodynamic potentials, phonons and all related aspects. To elucidate the concepts introduced and to provide practical problem-solving support, numerous carefully worked-out examples are included. The text is clearly written and punctuated with a number of interesting anecdotes. The book also provides alternative solutions to problems and second equivalent explanations of important physical concepts. This second edition has been expanded to cover the foundations of superconductivity with new chapters on Cooper pairs, the Bogoliubov transformation, and superconductivity. It is suitable as a main thermodynamics textbook for upper-undergraduate students and provides extensive coverage, allowing instructors to ‘pick and choose’ the elements that best match their class profile.

Modern Thermodynamics: From Heat Engines to Dissipative Structures, Second Edition presents a comprehensive introduction to 20th century thermodynamics that can be applied to both equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems, unifying what was traditionally divided into ‘thermodynamics’ and ‘kinetics’ into one theory of irreversible processes. This comprehensive text, suitable for introductory as well as advanced courses on thermodynamics, has been widely used by chemists, physicists, engineers and geologists. Fully revised and expanded, this new edition includes the following updates and features: Includes a completely new chapter on Principles of Statistical Thermodynamics. Presents new material on solar and wind energy flows and energy flows of interest to engineering. Covers new material on self-organization in non-equilibrium systems and the thermodynamics of small systems. Highlights a wide range of applications relevant to students across physical sciences and engineering courses. Introduces students to computational methods using updated Mathematica codes. Includes problem sets to help the reader understand and apply the principles introduced throughout the text. Solutions to exercises and supplementary lecture material provided online at http://sites.google.com/site/modernthermodynamics/. Modern Thermodynamics: From Heat Engines to Dissipative Structures, Second Edition is an essential resource for undergraduate and graduate students taking a course in thermodynamics.