Customer Reviews

Thermodynamics: Foundations and Applications (Dover Civil and Mechanical Engineering)

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As a teacher I am greatful to the authors, Gyftopoulos and Beretta, for providing me (and other teachers of thermodynamics ) with this novel, logically consistent and enlightening approach to thermodynamics. I use their exposition as the foundation of my teaching in both my graduate and undergraduate engineering courses in thermodynamics. I start with an expanded version of Chapter 14 of the book. This Chapter gives a concise summary of the thermodynamic concepts that constitute the basic structure of thermodynamics. Actually, the authors have a paper, found in the Proceedings ASME, Vo. 266, pp 206-217 (1993), in which they outline their presentation of the basic concepts in a sequence of 10 lectures. In that sequence, as in the book, there is a seamless flow from one concept to the other, without arbitrary statements, or non-rigorous derivations and misconceptions, as in most of the thermodynamic textbooks. For instance, unlike others who insist on talking about heat from page one, in spite of the fact that the concept of heat cannot be understood without the Second Law, Gyfropoulos and Beretta introduce heat towards the end of their exposition of basic concepts, where I believe it actually belongs. The above paper summarizes the order of introduction of concepts which I copy here:

"System (constituents and parameters); properties; state; energy(without heat and work) and energy balance; classification of states in terms of time evolution; existence of stable equilibrium states; available energy;entropy (without heat and temperature) of any state (equilibrium or not) and entropy balance; properties of stable equilibrium states; temperature in terms of energy and entropy;chemical potentials; pressure; work; heat; applications of balances"

My experience is that with this exposition of concepts the students end up with a better understanding of the structure of thermodynamics and a clear mental picture of the framework of basic concepts on which they can attach the application treatments they subsequently learn. I share the entusiasm of the two reviewers from Blacksburg about the book and its presentation of the entropy and the energy-entropy diagrams and I would like to add one more element: the treatment of the concept of reservoirs and the resulting extremely simple derivation of the Carnot Coefficient.

Basing their foundations of thermodynamics on a non-statistical view
of nature, the authors provide the reader with the first complete and
totally unambiguous presentation of thermodynamics. Unlike all other
texts which present thermodynamics as a statistical theory that
applies to macroscopic systems in states of thermodynamic equilibrium
only, this novel exposition by Gyftopoulos and Beretta shows in very
sharp contrast that thermodynamics is indeed non-statistical in nature
and applies to both macroscopic and microscopic systems (including one
particle systems) either in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium or
not in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium. This is not, for example,
simply a rehash of all the books on "equilibrium" or
"classical" thermodynamics, which have proliferated and
inundated the scientific and engineering community particularly over
the last 40 years. In fact, "classical" thermodynamics or
"thermostatics" is simply a special case of the thermodynamic
foundations presented in this text, foundations which also provide the
basis for the first complete resolution of a number of paradoxes,
which have plagued the scientific community since the 19th century.
These include, for example, the paradox of Maxwell's Demon, which the
authors resolve by proving that individual molecules have private
entropies just as they have private inertial masses and private
energies. Another, the paradox between macroscopic irreversibility
and microscopic reversibility, is resolved by the authors simply,
elegantly, and completely by proving that spontaneous entropy
generation (irreversibility) is independent of the size of the system,
i.e. it applies at the macroscopic level just as much as at the
macroscopic level. Though not presented in this book, the
complementary quantum theoretical foundations of thermodynamics, which
the authors have developed, lend further credence to the generality
and strength of the theory presented in this book. Finally, as
outlined in Chapter one of this excellent text, certain chapters can
be used for one or two undergraduate level courses while others can be
used for one or two courses at the graduate level. I personally have
used the entire book for three years at the graduate level and
consider it essential for solidifying the theoretical foundations of
our graduate students as well as for clarifying and eliminating many
of the errors and misconceptions, which have resulted from the
predominant statistical treatment of thermodynamics. Without
reservation, this book is a must for the serious student of
thermodynamics.

If you are seriously interested in thermodynamics, you have to read this book. Most textbooks treat temperature and entropy as ultimately indefinable, while the definitions in this text are so elegantly logical that they will quite literally blow your mind and force you to rethink everything you have been taught on the subject. I recommend this book not only to students of thermodynamics, but also to anyone who loves science and was never satisfied with definitions of temperature or entropy. This is easily the best textbook I have ever read.

This book provides an excellent, broad-based, sweeping view of the science of thermodynamics, most appropriate at the graduate level. The authors' somewhat cumbersome notation should not take away from the overall usefulness of the text. My own experience with the book was in a graduate level course. Overwhelming at first, the material and approach came together nicely after the initial 6-7 weeks. By the time the course was completed, I enjoyed a much more complete understanding of thermodynamics and the underlying concepts fundamental to that understanding. Two areas in particular deserve special mention. Gyftopoulos's and Beretta's presentation of entropy is one of the most refreshing I've seen. By defining it in terms of availability in Chapter 7 (even before temperature is discussed at length in Chapter 9), they emphasize the general nature of the property entropy. Again, somewhat overwhelming at first, their treatment avoids the traditional Clausius inequality approach that typically yields the disorder explanations (chaos discussions and somewhat contrived examples related to daily life are common) that leave students so dissatisfied with their understanding of entropy. The second area most beneficial to a more general understanding was the author's use of E-S (energy-entropy) diagrams. The diagrams are an extremely useful aid for emphasizing the broad application base of thermodynamics as well as the "solution space" used in the study of both thermodynamic (or stable) equilibrium states and states that are not in thermodynamic (or stable) equilibrium. Bottom line, stick with the book & enjoy not only a richer appreciation of thermodynamics, but also a deeper understanding of its applicability. Just as the study of fluid mechanics logically progresses from the general, 3-D, Navier-Stokes equations to potential flow and simpler representations, this text presents thermodynamics in its most general form, rarely seen in other books.

This is an excellent book to learn the fundamentals of thermodynamics not in the traditional way. The statements of laws of thermodynamics are great. The words have been chosen very carefully which provides a valid definition for any system at any condition. Its Energy vs. Entropy diagram is unique and includes both thermodynamic equilibrium as well as non-equilibrium states. The approach to thermodynamic equilibrium using energy and entropy diagram solves all mysteries. As the authors mentioned in the introduction, this book is easier for a reader without much background in thermodynamics than those who have been exposed to the traditional presentation. I recommend this text for serious readers who really want to learn thermodynamics.

Having learned first-handed from one of the authors and used it several times as a textbook in a graduate course, I am convinced that this is one of the best available thermodynamic textbooks and its influence will last for a long time. In addition to the removal of the vicious circles and ambiguous definitions presented in most thermo books, the definition of entropy is particularly enlightening. Entropy is defined as a property of any system (large or small) at any state (equilibrium or nonequilibrium). By repeatedly exercising the first law and second law of thermodynamics to solve engineering problems, entropy is not a monster to the students any more, rather, it is a fundamental property associated with all thermodynamic systems. The purpose of this book is not to give recipes for a few typical problems but to provide the foundation of thermodynamics to the readers, so that they can use their own knowledge to find the solution of many known and unknown engineering problems. For this reason, it is not the easiest textbook for use in a thermo class, and frustrations could occur at the beginning of using this book. At the end of each semester, however, most students felt that they had gained a unique experience and learned a great deal from this textbook. I hope to see this book republished soon. If revisions are to be made, my suggestions would be for the authors to consider (1) adding more homework problems, (2) incorporating the international temperature scale of 1990 (ITS-90), and (3) using the new steam table (IAPWS-IF97).

I commend the authors for the boldness and creativity of their new theory. They say they have newly defined terms (e.g.for entropy) and laws (the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics; after dismissing statistical mechanics from theoretical foundations) that do away with the circularity and subjectivity of current doctrines. However they do not address the primary issue that the 2nd law was derived to address without introducing their own circularities, namely why are real processes irreversible or why are most macroscopic systems irreversible?. One can further question whether their results are useful and are they right as I will briefly look at below. Some of their quotes are from their related articles available on the net.

1.Circularity. The authors correctly state that "the laws of thermodynamics do not require that entropy must always increase." Boltzman developed statistical mechanics to try and address the fundamental issue of why it is just most likely that entropy increases in the real world. He seemed to have failed because as the authors also correctly state, "the second law cannot be derived from the laws of mechanics." However what do they do? They state theorems - (i) if a weight process is reversible, the entropy remains invariant and (ii) if a weight process is irreversible, the entropy increases." This sounds like a tautology? Let's see how they define it -"A process is reversible if both the system and its environment can be restored to their respective initial states. A process is irreversible if [it cannot]." This seems circular so far? The authors then redefine the 2nd law - "Among all the states of a system with given values of energy, the amounts of constituents, and the parameters, there exists one and only one stable equilibrium state." They then dismiss perpetual motion machines(PMM) and Maxwell's Demon with short shrift - "In view of [our] well defined concepts [they looked a bit circular to me!] it is clear that no work can be extracted from a reservoir because work interaction, by definition, involves only energy exchange." They say their prohibition of PMM is not circular because it is only a theorem of their restatements of the 1st and 2nd laws. I do agree that the presumed PMM impossibilty is usually invoked in a circular manner by assuming the conventional 2nd law is true. However by reducing it to a theorem I'm not sure the issue has been resolved. They say that "Starting from a non-equilibrium state or from an equilibrium state that is not stable, experience shows that energy can be transferred out of the system and affect a mechancial effect without leaving any other net changes in the state of the environment. In contrast starting from a stable equilibrium state, experience shows that a system cannot affect the mechanical effect just cited." We have now switched from tautology to experimental fact? But so does Clausius's definition of entropy as a state function difference: dS >= Q/T where Q is the heat transfer. They actually agree with this formula! They just derive it differently by designing an absolute entropy for all particles of matter. How would they answer the fundamental question 'why are real processes irreversible'? Would they say for instance because the universe is in a nonequilibrium or unstable? I don't know because they do not respond to queries but that answer only begs the question. Their observations that "the laws of thermodynamics do not require that processes be reversible or irreversible" and "do not require an asymmetry of time" also avoids the issue, unless they they disagree that most macro systems are irreversible? It is generally agreed that the entropy of the universe is increasing and that creates a great mystery about the initial conditions. Penrose explains in his new book The Road to Reality that most authors ignore gravity and that means the initial conditions must have been exceedly unique. The authors say their absolute entropy is extensive but gravity denies extensivity at large scales. The authors' work is at best woefully incomplete and fails to identify crucial issues.

2. Is their theory useful as a substitute for conventional physics? They introduce new terms and definitions but in the end they agree with Clausius's formula for entropy as noted above. The textbook values for entropy are safe. They derive an absolute value for entropy but create a new mystery, what is this new attribute that was also created in the beginning? Pure accident as opposed to a relation between particles? They say thermodynamics does not mandate irreversibility but they don't even address the fundamental issue for real processes and likely they cannot with their circular approach.

3. Are they right? They propose a unified theory with quantum mechanics. They say "Whereas the entropies of statistical mechanics are thought to represent ultimate disorder if the system is in a stable equilibrium state, the entropy of the unified theory represents perfect order for such a state." It's difficult to say, but their theory has been refused publication and their theory on disorder vs disorder is buried in an obscure journal and the authors, as I said, do not respond to queries. This leads one to suspect they are more interested in pedantic arguments about theorems and definitions than real world problems. It seems ironic that it is Boltzman's statistical mechanics, which the authors dismiss, that was derived to address the very issue they ignore; Why does the observed universe appear to be irreversible? There is no irony however in simply ignoring the problem.

The authors present a rigorous treatment of the foundations of thermodynamics, based on clearly defined concepts and noncircular deductions. This treatment resolves conceptual loopholes and logical deficiencies which are present in traditional treatments of thermodynamics.

The exposition by Gyftopoulos and Beretta is rigorous because they define unambiguously every term they use. They begin with the concepts of system, property, and state. Next, they introduce the first law without the concepts of energy and heat, and derive the concept of energy and its conservation as two theorems of the first law. Next, they classify states of any system as unsteady, steady, nonequilibrium, equilibrium, and stable equilibrium, and state the second law in the form introduced by Hatsopoulos and Keenan, i.e., as an assertion of existence of one and only one stable equilibrium state for each set of values of energy, amounts of constituents, and volume (or parameters) . The statements of the first and of the second law yield rigorously all the results of classical thermodynamics. A noteworthy scientific contribution of this book is a novel definition of entropy, valid also for nonequilibrium states. In addition to its usefulness for students and teachers, this book has also a scientific role in the development of thermodynamics, for it can be a starting point for the elaboration of a new generation of introductory textbooks, more elementary but equally rigorous.

The textbook by Gyftopoulos and Beretta is excellent also in its second part devoted to applications. It provides a clear and wide treatment of many topics relevant for engineering applications of thermodynamics: properties of real gases, bulk flow interactions, availability functions, energy conversion systems (cycles), properties of mixtures, chemical equilibrium and combustion. The worked-out solutions of all end-of-chapter problems are enlightening and supplemental with respect to the first Macmillan edition. The clearness, wealth and depth of this part on applications are surprising for a textbook which is also presenting such a thorough and awaited rigorous formulation of the foundations of thermodynamics.

Having learned first-handed from one of the authors and used it several times as a textbook in a graduate course, I am convinced that this is one of the best available thermodynamic textbooks and its influence will last for a long time. In addition to the removal of the vicious circles and ambiguous definitions presented in most thermo books, the definition of entropy is particularly enlightening. Entropy is defined as a property of any system (large or small) at any state (equilibrium or nonequilibrium). By repeatedly exercising the first law and second law of thermodynamics to solve engineering problems, entropy is not a monster to the students any more, rather, it is a fundamental property associated with all thermodynamic systems. The purpose of this book is not to give recipes for a few typical problems but to provide the foundation of thermodynamics to the readers, so that they can use their own knowledge to find the solution for many known and unknown engineering problems. For this reason, it is not the easiest textbook for use in a thermo class, and frustrations could occur at the beginning of using this book. At the end of each semester, however, most students felt that they had gained a unique experience and learned much more from this textbook than other books. I hope to see this book republished soon. If revisions are to be made, my suggestions would be for the authors to consider (1) adding more homework problems, (2) incorporating the international temperature scale of 1990 (ITS-90), and (3) using the new steam table (IAPWS-IF97).

The text is cryptic and archaic. No wonder its out of print already. I used it as a textbook in a graduate level class onthermo. The style of writing is horrible. I've seen other thermotexts, and this one is the worst.