Thermodynamics

This textbook on thermodynamics is intended primarily for honours and B. Sc students majoring in physical chemistry. However, students of physics, engineering and biochemistry will also find the book relevant to their studies. Its principal features are a much shorter presentation of the laws of thermodynamics than is customary, made possible by the definition of the thermodynamic scale of temperature using only one fixed point (the triple point of water) which immediately follows the Zeroth Law. The author's first exposure to thermodynamics revealed that its usefulness seemed to be mostly confined to the study of gases in equilibrium. Readers of this book will find that applications of thermodynamics to liquids and solids as well as gases are emphasized, and they will learn that thermodynamics can be applied to systems which are not in equilibrium. This book contains three learning aids. Fully worked out examples are included at appropriate places in the text, which also includes numerous exercises. These are designed to help the reader stop and think about what he or she has just read. Answers to the exercises are given at the end of each section and there are also problems at the end of each chapter which readers can work out on their own.