It includes the fundamentals of classical thermodynamics (which was founded largely in the nineteenth century and motivated by a desire to understand the conversion of heat into work using engines) and also statistical mechanics (which was founded by Boltzmann and Gibbs, and is concerned with the statistical behaviour of the underlying microstates of the system). Thermal physics forms a key part of any undergraduate physics course. (we) have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day. (On the Nature of Things, Lucretius, first century BC) From this you can imagine what it is For atoms to be tossed perpetually In endless motion through the mighty void. When the sun’s rays let in Pass through the darkness of a shuttered room, You will see a multitude of tiny bodies All mingling in a multitude of ways Inside the sunbeam, moving in the void, Seeming to be engaged in endless strife, Battle, and warfare, troop attacking troop, And never a respite, harried constantly, With meetings and with partings everywhere. Preface In the beginning was the Word.Ĭonsider sunbeams. To our dear parents Alan and Daphne Blundell Alan and Christine Sanders with love. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wilts. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization.
Blundell 2010 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First edition published in 2006 Second edition published in 2010 All rights reserved. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Stephen J. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. B LUNDELL Department of Physics, University of Oxford, UK To request a copy of the Solutions Manual, visit: Ĭoncepts in Thermal Physics Second Edition STEPHEN J.
New examples and exercises have been added throughout. The second edition of this popular textbook maintains the structure and lively style of the first edition but extends its coverage of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics to include several new topics, including osmosis, diffusion problems, Bayes theorem, radiative transfer, the Ising model and Monte Carlo methods. Each chapter concludes with detailed exercises. Applications are presented to subjects as diverse as stellar astrophysics, information and communication theory, condensed matter physics and climate change. The key concepts are carefully presented in a clear way, and new ideas are illustrated with copious worked examples as well as a description of the historical background to their discovery. This book provides a modern introduction to the main principles that are foundational to thermal physics, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. An understanding of thermal physics is crucial to much of modern physics, chemistry and engineering.