Thermodynamics (eBook)

Enrico Fermi: Father of the Atomic Age Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) received the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his demonstrations of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons." Just a year before winning the Nobel Prize, Fermi published Thermodynamics, based on a course of lectures at Columbia University, an enduring work which Dover first reprinted in 1956 and which has been in print continuously since then, one of the foundations of Dover's physics program. Both a theorist and an experimentalist, Fermi packed an immense amount of science into his relatively short life, which ended prematurely as a consequence of the radiation he received working on the development of the atomic bomb. His work, of course, was not just in the realm of nuclear physics: Fermi will always be the most remembered for the events of December 2, 1942, when he and other scientists at the University of Chicago's Stagg Field produced the world's "first self-sustaining chain reaction . . . instituting the controlled release of atomic energy." In the Author's Own Words:"There are two possible outcomes: If the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery." — Enrico Fermi Critical Acclaim for Enrico Fermi:"He was simply unable to let things be foggy. Since they always are, this kept him pretty active." — J. Robert Oppenheimer

PREFACEINTRODUCTIONCHAPTERI. THERMODYNAMIC SYSTEMS 1. The state of a system and its transformations 2. Ideal or perfect gasesII. THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS 3. The statement of the first law of thermodynamics 4. "The application of the first law to systems whose states can be represented on a (V, p) diagram" 5. The application of the first law to gases 6. Adiabatic transformations of a gasIII. THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS 7. The statement of the second law of thermodynamics 8. The Carnot cycle 9. The absolute thermodynamic temperature 10. Thermal enginesIV. THE ENTROPY 11. Some properties of cycles 12. The entropy 13. Some further properties of the entropy 14. "The entropy of a system whose states can be represented on a (V, p) diagram" 15. The Clapeyron equation 16. The Van der Waals equationV. THERMODYNAMIC POTENTIALS 17. The free energy 18. The thermodynamic potential at constant pressure 19. The phase rule 20. Thermodynamics of the reversible electric cellsVI. GASEOUS REACTIONS 21. Chemical equilibria in gases 22. The Van't Hoff reaction box 23. Another proof of the equation of gaseous equilibria 24. Discussion of gaseous equilibria; the principle of Le ChatelierVII. THE THERMODYNAMICS OF DILUTE SOLUTIONS 25. Dilute solutions 26. Osmotic pressure 27. Chemical equilibria in solutions 28. The distribution of a solute between two phases 29. "The vapor pressure, the boiling point, and the freezing point of a solution"VIII. THE ENTROPY CONSTANT 30. The Nernst theorem 31. Nernst's theorem applied to solids 32. The entropy constant of gases 33. Thermal ionization of a gas; the thermionic effectINDEX