Название: Thermodynamics And Statistical Mechanics
Автор: Richard Fitzpatrick
Издательство: World Scientific Publishing
Год: 2020
Страниц: 358
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true)
Размер: 11.9 MB

This book provides a comprehensive exposition of the theory of equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics at a level suitable for well-prepared undergraduate students. The fundamental message of the book is that all results in equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics follow from a single unprovable axiom — namely, the principle of equal a priori probabilities — combined with elementary probability theory, elementary classical mechanics, and elementary quantum mechanics.

The method adopted in thermodynamics is essentially dictated by the enormous complexity of thermodynamic systems. We generally start off with some statistical information about the motions of the constituent atoms or molecules, such as their average kinetic energy, but possess very little information about the motions of individual particles. We then try to deduce some other properties of the system from a statistical treatment of the governing equations of motion. In fact, our approach has to be statistical in nature, because we lack most of the information required to specify the internal state of the system. The best we can do is to provide a few overall constraints, such as the average volume and the average energy. Thermodynamic systems are ideally suited to a statistical approach because of the enormous numbers of particles that they contain.