Book Description
The only text to cover both thermodynamic and statistical mechanics--allowing students to fully master thermodynamics at the macroscopic level. Presents essential ideas on critical phenomena developed over the last decade in simple, qualitative terms. This new edition maintains the simple structure of the first and puts new emphasis on pedagogical considerations. Thermostatistics is incorporated into the text without eclipsing macroscopic thermodynamics, and is integrated into the conceptual framework of physical theory.
Customer Reviews:
Wrong Edition Sent.......2007-09-24
Although the edition was correct, the book was a paperback when I specifically paid for hardbound. Even more frustrating was the fact that it was not eligible for return.
Key to undestanf statistical physics.......2006-10-26
The postulational approach is really great. This book tooks away all the question I had about the connection between thermodynamics and statistical physics. I think it's a good idea to read Fermi's thermodynamics also. To see how smart one can be when using thermodynamics.
nice book, nice service.......2005-09-16
I am both satisfied with amazon service and with the book.
Excellent.......2005-03-30
Beautiful simple straightforward approach to thermodynamics. The postulates are well explained and the use of the axioms is highlighted. Challenging questions make this book a joy to use, great a student text as well as a reference.
Insightful Postulational Approach to Thermodynamics.......2004-05-19
Why did I buy an older thermodynamics text, one first published in 1960? I trusted the advice of earlier reviewers.
They say: 1) The best treatment of classical thermodynamics that I have seen. The chapters on phase transitions are excellent and the mechanical model used to illustrate critical phenomena is brilliant. 2) It is far better than most books on the subject. 3) I think this book has no competition as a text in thermodynamics. It is the ideal preparation for a book like Landau's Statistical Physics. 4) The overview of the fundamentals of thermodynamics is without rival. 5) I think this book is a great option if you feel disappointed with the standard treatment of thermodynamics.
A few reviewers argued that Callen's text was less suitable for engineering students (too few heat-mechanical energy conversion problems) and chemical engineers (too few chemical mixture problems).
My trust was not misplaced. Thermodynamics, an Introduction to the Physical Theories of Equilibrium Thermostatics and Irreversible Thermodynamics, is an exceptional text. I give it five stars.
H. B. Callen offers a fascinating and insightful postulational approach to thermodynamics rather than the conventional inductive approach. He targets first year graduate students and advanced undergraduates; however, even readers proficient with advanced thermodynamics should find Callen's approach stimulating.
The text has three primary sections: General Principles of Classical Thermodynamics (200 pages), Representative Applications (65 pages), and Fluctuations and Irreversible Thermodynamics (50 pages). An extensive appendix, some 50 pages, offers a useful review of pertinent mathematics and other relevant topics. Answers are not provided to the chapter problems.
Interspersed throughout are brief chapters that review useful mathematical techniques. I appreciated the discussions of the Euler equation, the Legendre transformations, the extremum principle in the Legendre transformed representations, and the Maxwell relations (not the Maxwell EM equations). Callen provides useful tools like a thermodynamic mnemonic diagram (first introduced by Max Born) and associated procedures for reducing the formal manipulation of partial derivates to "a simple recipe".
Callen's text has been widely used. I reviewed the 1960 first edition, eighteenth printing. A second edition published in 1984 is easier to find and is often used today as a supplementary text.
Thanks again for the advice from previous reviewers.
Customer Reviews:
An old one.......2007-05-15
Huge content. Good book with extra information but dont deal with it if you are not taking the assigned course.
Mediocre at best.......2006-10-20
I can't really say I'm a fan of this book. A good physics book has at least 1 of these qualities:
1: Nice balance of mathematical formalism and explanation of the physics (this almost never happens)
2: Enough explanation of the physics to make up for a lack of formalism (any Griffiths text for example)
3: Enough mathematical formalism to make up for a lack of explanation of the physics.
This book doesn't have ANY of these qualities. The only clear part of the book is the Introduction. The rest of it seems fairly scatterbrained. I also don't know why people are raving so much about the problems in the book-- I found them to be more exercises in manipulating/integrating logarithms instead of really giving the reader/student any further insight into the theory. All in all I'd have to say I'm pretty pissed that Berkeley uses this book and that I was forced to deal with it.
The only reason I gave it three stars it seems to be okay for reviewing the material but if you're learning it the first time around it really lacks the detail necessary for a thorough understanding
Poorly manufactured book!.......2006-05-04
I remember when I took this couse as an undergraduate it was very challenging to develop an "intuitive feel" for the subject material and the book seemed to make matters worse. Several years later and after a little mathematical "seasoning", I have revisited Kittel's Thermal Physics and now realize how well the material is presented. However, I am forced to give the book 3 stars because I remember how EVERY textbook in the class(~15 students) fell apart before the semester ended. I remember paying nearly $80 for the book at the time- totally unacceptable for a book in this price range. I was actually hoping to find an inexpensive used copy to replace my original, but after reading the reviews, it appears that the binding problem has not been corrected yet. So, I guess I'll have to tolerate keeping the pages intact as I thumb through the book.
Unclear and unhelpful.......2005-10-25
As a textbook for an undergraduate course on thermal physics, this offering is quite poor. The authors lack the gift of clearly communicating their (obviously quite good) understanding of thermal physics; the writing, particularly when explaining what should be simple concepts, is dense and opaque. Figures often function as nothing more than page-fillers, and do not serve to clarify the text. Important results are scattered, in many cases not even set off from the main text with any sort of visual cue. The problems for each section (and the text itself) will frequently bring in detailed information from other areas of physics or chemistry without making any attempt to explain its relation to the subject at hand. The authors often use the problems as extensions to the text, adding a half page of extraneous commentary after asking a question that takes a single line to state. As another reviewer remarked, the problems in general can take an hour to interpret and five minutes to solve. Overall, the book is very wordy when it doesn't need to be, confusing, and difficult to use.
If you are an undergraduate taking a first class in thermal physics, it will be a tremendous chore to learn it from this book.
cheap Tiwan copies.......2004-04-12
This is a great book for the field but some companies get cheap foreign copies that WILL NOT LAST. I happened to buy one for the statistical mechanics class that I am in and the spine has broken and the pages are coming loose. MAKE SHURE YOU CHECK WITH THE SELLER TO SEE THAT IT IS TRUELY A US OR EUROPEAN COPY.
Book Description
The Manchester Physics Series General Editors: D. J. Sandiford; F. Mandl; A. C. Phillips Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester Properties of Matter B. H. Flowers and E. Mendoza Optics Second Edition F. G. Smith and J. H. Thomson Statistical Physics Second Edition E. Mandl Electromagnetism Second Edition I. S. Grant and W. R. Phillips Statistics R. J. Barlow Solid State Physics Second Edition J. R. Hook and H. E. Hall Quantum Mechanics F. Mandl Particle Physics Second Edition B. R. Martin and G. Shaw The Physics of Stars Second Edition A. C. Phillips Computing for Scientists R. J. Barlow and A. R. Barnett Statistical Physics, Second Edition develops a unified treatment of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, which emphasises the statistical nature of the laws of thermodynamics and the atomic nature of matter. Prominence is given to the Gibbs distribution, leading to a simple treatment of quantum statistics and of chemical reactions. Undergraduate students of physics and related sciences will find this a stimulating account of the basic physics and its applications. Only an elementary knowledge of kinetic theory and atomic physics, as well as the rudiments of quantum theory, are presupposed for an understanding of this book. Statistical Physics, Second Edition features:
- A fully integrated treatment of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.
- A flow diagram allowing topics to be studied in different orders or omitted altogether.
- Optional "starred" and highlighted sections containing more advanced and specialised material for the more ambitious reader.
- Sets of problems at the end of each chapter to help student understanding. Hints for solving the problems are given in an Appendix.
Customer Reviews:
Good title for self-study.......2007-01-16
I originally wanted to obtain a self-study guide for thermodynamics and statistical physics. I noticed that F. Mandl's book was always checked out at the local university library which could have implied it was a certain professor's favorite reading assignment, but the current Amazon reviews gave it an excellent grade.
I have completed the first chapter and exercises thus far. I have to say that the presentation of the first law of T.D. is very simple, but the exerices are much more challenging than the chapter contents and examples. I have broswed the other chapters and read subsections, and so far the book seems to be written very well and to the point. One of the best things about this book is the Hints for solving problems (which is really a small solution appendix). I would already have carried forward several errors if not for this material. Even if you've taken an introductory sequence in the past, it is good to lay aside your assumptions and allow Mandl to navigate you through without prior prejudice.
Very suitable for self-study.......2006-04-11
Pedagogically speaking, this is probably the best intermediate level statistical physics book out there. The concepts are laid out very clearly and logically. The examples are very useful and effective.
Maybe the best part of the book is that is contains solutions (not just answers!) to the end-of-chapter problems, which makes it a student-friendly textbook. Therefore it is very suitable for those who like self-studying.
It is a relatively short book, but it includes only the essentials, it does not inundate you with fancy details. Very strongly recommended!
Good first book on statistical physcs + thermodynamics.......2004-11-14
This book has for many years been the book on our University's
second-year course on thermodynamics and statistical physics. It gives a good introduction to both topics and especially
how the two relate to each other. It is mostly clearly written and
has good examples. It is not perfect by any means, e.g.
the blackbody radiation is inexplicably presented before the
Bose-Einstein distribution is derived, and the example
on the Clausius-Clapeyron equation uses an unnecessarily
crude approximation, but overall it still remains one of
the best conxise texts on the subject.
My Favorite Physics Book.......2002-03-14
This book is really one of the most interesting books I've ever read, and is my favorite book in phyics. The writing style is clear, the figures and graphs well-done, and the book contains valuable exercises and partial solutions. As an undergraduate text it requires a basic background in diff. eq., classical mechanics, e&m etc, but never gets too intimidating. In a graduate statmech class I found the background I received from Mandl carried me almost all the way through. What a great book!
Review by a graduate student........1998-07-31
Thermodynamics gives a phenomenological description of properties of matter that are dependent on temperature. Whereas Statistical Physics attempts to give a microscopic view point of properties of matterThere is no concept of heat as such in the statistical approach . The two subjects though different in their approach complement each other. The crux of the difficulty is a begginner must try not imagine very much in a microscopic level when he learns thermodynamics. But when a student learns Statistical Physics he has to imagine in microscopic terms. There are usually two broad varieties of text books, Those which emphasize thermodynamics and leave statistical physics. But the worst case is books which start with a microscopic view.(e.g books by Pippard , Zemansky & Dittmanetc) These books fail to make a student appreciate the beauty and mathematical completeness of classical thermodynamics.(e.g popular books by Rief Kittel & Kromer,Baierlin). I have seen a ! few friends of mine who could manipulate details from partitiomn functions , but they don't understand even the first twolaws of thermodynamics. Here is where Mandl's book succeeds.It introduces both the subjects in such a meticulous way that you don't feel pertuturbed by the different views. The book is short and yet comprehensive.It covers few well known examples like paramagnetism , blackbody radiation in detail. The advanced portions are maked with asterisks or gray tint(this is typical of all books in the series. I would recommend this book instead of two sepeate courses on thermodynamics and Statistical Physics. Though the approach is not in chronological order it avoids much tautology of learning and unlearnig between the macroscpic and microscopic view.Yet another noteworthy aspect is a good treatment of open systems via the grand canonical ensemble in the last chapter. The problems in this book are superb. There are a few confidence building problems and there are hi! nts , answers and even complete solutions for tougher probl! emsThis book is ideally suited for both class room and self study..
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Statistical Methods in Experimental Physics(2nd Edition)
Frederick James
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 981256795X |
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Excellent book.......1999-05-17
Very good statistics book. Too bad it's out of print and has lousy typesetting. I'd buy another copy if it were re-typeset.
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Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics, 2nd Edition
Frank C. Andrews
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
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ASIN: 0471031232 |
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Transport Phenomena, 2nd Edition
W. J. Beek ,
K. M. K. Muttzall , and
J. W. Van Heuven
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
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Industrial & Technical
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ASIN: 0471999776 |
Book Description
Transport Phenomena Second Edition W. J. Beek K. M. K. Muttzall J. W. van Heuven Momentum, heat and mass transport phenomena can be found everywhere in nature. A solid understanding of the principles of these processes is essential for chemical and process engineers. The second edition of Transport Phenomena builds on the foundation of the first edition which presented fundamental knowledge and practical application of momentum, heat and mass transfer processes in a form useful to engineers. This revised edition includes revisions of the original text in addition to new applications providing a thoroughly updated edition. This updated text includes;
* An introduction to physical transport analysis including units, dimensional analysis and conservation laws.
* A systematic treatment of fluid flow and heat and mass transport, their similarities and dissimilarities.
* Theoretical and semi-empirical equations and a condensed overview of practical data.
* Illustrative problems showing practical applications.
* A problem section at the end of each chapter with answers and explanations.
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Universality in Chaos, 2nd edition
Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0852742606 |
Book Description
Nature provides many examples of physical systems that are described by deterministic equations of motion, but that nevertheless exhibit nonpredictable behavior. The detailed description of turbulent motions remains perhaps the outstanding unsolved problem of classical physics. In recent years, however, a new theory has been formulated that succeeds in making quantitative predictions describing certain transitions to turbulence. Its significance lies in its possible application to large classes (often very dissimilar) of nonlinear systems. Since the publication of Universality in Chaos in 1984, progress has continued to be made in our understanding of nonlinear dynamical systems and chaos. This second edition extends the collection of articles to cover recent developments in the field, including the use of statistical mechanics techniques in the study of strange sets arising in dynamics. It concentrates on the universal aspects of chaotic motions, the qualitative and quantitative predictions that apply to large classes of physical systems. Much like the previous edition, this book will be an indispensable reference for researchers and graduate students interested in chaotic dynamics in the physical, biological, and mathematical sciences as well as engineering.
Book Description
There is much to be learned philosophically from this volume, but philosophical instruction was not Kierkegaard's aim here, except in the broad sense of self-knowledge and deepened awareness. Indicating the intention of the discourses, the titles include "The Expectancy of Faith," "Love Will Hide a Multitude of Sins," "Strengthening in the Inner Being," "To Gain One's Soul in Patience," "Patience in Expectancy," and "Against Cowardliness." In tone and substance these works are in accord with the concluding words of encouragement in Either/Or, which was paired with the first volume of discourses: "Ask yourself and keep on asking until you find the answer, for one may have known something many times, acknowledged it; one may have willed something many times, attempted it--and yet, only the deep inner motion, only the heart's indescribable emotion, only that will convince you that what you have acknowledged belongs to you, that no power can take it from you--for only the truth that builds up is truth for you."
Books:
- University Physics: Volume 1
- 200 Puzzling Physics Problems
- A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes
- A Quantum Approach to Condensed Matter Physics
- Approaching Quantum Computing
- Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos
- Beginning Physics II: Waves, Electromagnetism, Optics and Modern Physics
- Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color
- Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems
- College Physics, Volume 1 (with PhysicsNOW)
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