Based on a course given to beginning physics, chemistry, and engineering students at the Winterthur Polytechnic Institute, this text approaches the fundamentals of thermodynamics from the viewpoint of continuum mechanics. By describing physical processes in terms of the flow and balance of physical quantities, the book provides a unified approach to hydraulics, electricity, mechanics and thermodynamics. In this way it becomes clear that the entropy is the fundamental property that is transported in thermal processes and that the temperature is its measure.
Previous knowledge of thermodynamics is not required, but readers should be familiar with basic electricity, mechanics, and chemistry and should have some knowledge of elementary calculus. Both the theory and applications are included as well as many exercises and solved problems from various fields of science and engineering.
Based on courses for students of science, engineering, and systems science at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences at Winterthur, this text approaches the fundamentals of thermodynamics from the point of view of continuum physics. By describing physical processes in terms of the flow and balance of physical quantities, the author achieves a unified approach to hydraulics, electricity, mechanics and thermodynamics. In this way, it becomes clear that entropy is the fundamental property that is transported in thermal processes (i.e., heat), and that temperature is the corresponding potential. The resulting theory of the creation, flow, and balance of entropy provides the foundation of a dynamical theory of heat.
This extensively revised and updated second edition includes new material on dynamical chemical processes, thermoelectricity, and explicit dynamical modeling of thermal and chemical processes. To make the book more useful for courses on thermodynamics and physical chemistry at different levels, coverage of topics is divided into introductory and more advanced and formal treatments. Previous knowledge of thermodynamics is not required, but the reader should be familiar with basic electricity, mechanics, and chemistry and should have some knowledge of elementary calculus. The special feature of the first edition – the integration of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and chemical processes – has been maintained and strengthened.
Key Features:
- Presents a unified approach to thermodynamics and heat transport in fundamental physical and chemical processes
- First revised edition of a successful text/reference in fourteen years
- More than 25 percent new material
- Provides worked examples, questions, and problem sets for use as a teaching text or for self testing
- Includes many system dynamics models of laboratory experiments
