Customer Reviews

Molecular Thermodynamics

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First off, if you are looking for an engineering thermo text, look elsewhere. The whole book is based on the theories behind the key thermo equations and laws, and how to derive all sorts of corollaries and equations from the basic few equations, and it does an awesome job at that.

Thus, if you were looking really small-scale, as in molecular-scale (the title does say "molecular thermo"), this book does a great job of teaching you the key concepts that you need to know. It covers a wide range of topics, starting off with four chapters on quantum mechanics and statistical thermodynamics before going on into three chapters on the three laws of thermo. The authors then spend the second half of the book looking at consequences and applications, which are mainly of importance to people studying chemical processes (topics such as solutions, chemical equilibria, free energies).

I'd say 85% of the book is math-based, so don't expect to make it through without thoroughly understanding vector calculus (although math chapters are included to provide crash courses in important mathematical concepts). If you do understand the math, this book is like a series of well-prepared lectures in paper form. The logic is clear and easy to follow, and problems provided are relevant and challenging enough to make you think and integrate concepts that are introduced.

So if you're looking for a thorough look at molecular thermo, more specifically for chemical processes at that scale, look no further. If you want a comprehensive math-based book to help you understand key equations in thermo, this is also for you. However, if you're anything else, especially if you're an engineer, you need applications and other mentally imaginable stuff that you will not find here.

Some of the material in this book I have not required because I am studying macroscopic thermodynamics. However I can now see where some of the fundamentals come from and it has helped greatly with my stuides. The section on the Clausius-Clapeyron Equation is really well presented and easy to follow.