Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
This second edition ofThermodynamics and Chemistryis a revised and enlarged version
of the first edition published by Prentice Hall in 2001. The book is designed primarily as a
textbook for a one-semester course for graduate or undergraduate students who have already
been introduced to thermodynamics in a physical chemistry course.
The PDF file of this book contains hyperlinks to pages, sections, equations, tables,
figures, bibliography items, and problems. If you are viewing the PDF on a computer
screen, tablet, or color e-reader, the links are colored in blue.
Scattered through the text are sixteen one-page biographical sketches of some of the
historical giants of thermodynamics. A list is given on the preceding page. The sketches
are not intended to be comprehensive biographies, but rather to illustrate the human side of
thermodynamics—the struggles and controversies by which the concepts and experimental
methodology of the subject were developed.
The epigraphs on page 18 are intended to suggest the nature and importance of classi-
cal thermodynamics. You may wonder about the conversation between Alice and Humpty
Dumpty. Its point, particularly important in the study of thermodynamics, is the need to pay
attention to definitions—the intended meanings of words.
I welcome comments and suggestions for improving this book. My e-mail address ap-
pears below.
Howard DeVoe
[email protected]