Statistical Thermodynamics for Pure and Applied Sciences (PDF)

This textbook concerns thermal properties of bulk matter and is aimed at advanced undergraduate or first-year graduate students in a range of programs in science or engineering. It provides an intermediate level presentation of statistical thermodynamics for students in the physical sciences (chemistry, nanosciences, physics) or related areas of applied science/engineering (chemical engineering, materials science, nanotechnology engineering), as they are areas in which statistical mechanical concepts play important roles. The book enables students to utilize microscopic concepts to achieve a better understanding of macroscopic phenomena and to be able to apply these concepts to the types of sub-macroscopic systems encountered in areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

• Employs microscopic description of gases of classical and quantum particles to obtain equations of state for classical and ideal gases
• Reviews relevant basic thermodynamics and establishes their connections to statistical mechanics
• Develops classical (Boltzmann) and quantum (Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein) statistical mechanics
• Treats four types of ensemble and derives expressions for typical thermodynamic functions in terms of corresponding partition functions
• Presents detailed discussions of the roles played by internal molecular states and electronic and nuclear spin states
• Reinforces concepts using applications, worked examples, and end-of-chapter problems