Thermodynamics: Foundations and Applications [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback: 784 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486479250
• ISBN-13: 978-0486479255
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,107,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Intellectually Rigorous Presentation of Thermodynamics, November 27, 2000

By 

G.B. (Medford, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thermodynamics: Foundations and Applications (Hardcover)

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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for the Serious Student of Thermodynamics, October 19, 2000

By 

Michael von Spakovsky (Blacksburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thermodynamics: Foundations and Applications (Hardcover)

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly revolutionary approach., January 12, 2002

By 

Peter Rezac (Northeastern University, Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thermodynamics: Foundations and Applications (Hardcover)

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.