At the heart of many fields - physics, chemistry, engineering - lies thermodynamics.
While this science plays a critical role in determining the boundary between what is and is not possible in the natural world, it occurs to many as an indecipherable black box, thus making the subject a challenge to learn.
Two obstacles contribute to this situation, the first being the disconnect between the fundamental theories and the underlying physics and the second being the confusing concepts and terminologies involved with the theories.
While one needn't confront either of these two obstacles to successfully use thermodynamics to solve real problems, overcoming both provides access to a greater intuitive sense of the problems and more confidence, more strength, and more creativity in solving them.
This book offers an original perspective on thermodynamic science and history based on the three approaches of a
practicing engineer, academician, and historian. The book synthesises and gathers into one accessible volume a strategic range of foundational topics involving the atomic theory, energy, entropy, and the laws of thermodynamics.
Introduction Part 1 The Big Bang 1: The Big Bang: the science 2: The Big Bang: the discovery Part 2 The Atom 3: The Atom: the science 4: The Atom: the discovery Part 3 Energy and Conservation Laws 5: The science 6: Motion prior to Galileo 7: Galileo and the Law of Fall 8: Newton and the Laws of Motion 9: The lever 10: The rise of ½ mv2 11: Bernoulli and Euler unite Newton and Leibniz 12: The conservation of mechanical energy 13: Heat 14: Joseph Black and the rise of heat capacity 15: Lavoisier and the birth of modern chemistry 16: The rise of the steam engine 17: Caloric 18: The ideal gas 19: The final steps to energy and its conservation 20: Julius Robert Mayer 21: James Joule 22: The 1st Law of Thermodynamics 23: Epilogue: The mystery of beta decay Part 4 Entropy and the Laws of Thermodynamics 24: The science 25: The piston 26: England and the steam engine 27: The Newcomen engine 28: James Watt 29: Trevithick, Woolf and high-pressure steam 30: Sadi Carnot 31: Rudolph Clausius 32: William Thomson 33: The creation of thermodynamics 34: Clausius and the road to entropy 35: J. Willard Gibbs 36: Gibbs' 3rd paper 37: Practical applications of Gibbs' theories 38: Dissemination of Gibbs' work 39: The 2nd Law, entropy and the chemists 40: Clausius - the kinetic theory of gases 41: Maxwell - the rise of statistical mechanics 42: Boltzmann - the probabilistic interpretation of entropy 43: Shannon - entropy and information theory Part 5 Conclusion Acknowledgements and Bibliography
Dr. Robert T. Hanlon earned his Sc.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and subsequently conducted post-doctoral research at Karlsruhe University in Germany. His professional career took him to Mobil Oil Research & Development Corporation, the Rohm and Haas Company, and then back to MIT where he is currently involved with their School of Chemical Engineering Practice.
Reviews for Block by Block: The Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Thermodynamics
This is the book I wish I had 25 years ago! Bob Hanlon describes in beautiful detail the meaning behind thermodynamics concepts that our teachers and books missed. He provides new perspectives on entropy, heat and work, and statistical mechanics. Along the way we get to meet our heroes, people like Carnot, Clausius, of course Gibbs. A gem of a book! * Darrell Velegol, Distinguished Professor, Penn State University * This book is for those who frequently ask why is this happening? instead of what is happening? That's why this book is different than any textbook on this subject. It is such a rich material, organized in the way that gives to the reader (being an experienced professional or an under-graduate student) the ability to question and understand the concepts behind the Laws of Thermodynamics. The most important, reading this book is like reading a novel about a very exciting subject. * Dr Roger Riehl, National Institute for Space Research (INPE). *
