Physics of Thermal Phenomena

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Thermodynamics is a macroscopic science concerned with properties such as pressure, temperature, chemical potential, and volume. Unlike quantum mechanics, thermodynamics is not based on a specific molecular model and therefore it is unexpected by our changing concepts of atoms and molecules. Indeed, the major foundations of thermodynamics were laid long before detailed atomic theories became available. On the negative side, equations derived from laws of thermodynamics do not provide us with a molecular interpretation of complex phenomena. Although thermodynamics helps us predict the direction and extent of chemical reactions, it tells us nothing about the rate of the process which is rather addressed by chemical kinetics. This book introduces the Zeroth, first, Second and Third laws of thermodynamics and discusses some examples of thermochemistry.