Physics Tutorial: Thermodynamics (Second Edition)

Author: Qin Yunhao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: This book is the result of multiple revisions made by the author during their long tenure at Nanjing University. The 1990 edition of this book won the First Prize of the Third National Excellent Teaching Material Award by the State Education Commission, and Professor Zhao Kaihua highly praised it. The 1999 edition is a "21st Century Curriculum Textbook" and a "National Key Textbook of the 9th Five-Year Plan," which won the Second Prize of the National Excellent Teaching Material Award in 2002. This is the second edition of the book. The structure of this textbook is largely the same as that of "Thermodynamics" by Li Chun and others, published in 1978, and does not involve thermodynamic relations or the three statistical distributions. However, it has made significant developments while inheriting the rigorous and solid tradition of physics education in China. At the same time, it incorporates the strengths of American teaching methods—flexibility, innovation, practicality, and attention to creativity—further enhancing its "liveness, novelty, and breadth" on the foundation of "reality." It emphasizes the connections between thermodynamics and modern physics, as well as new growth points in disciplines such as astronomy, geology, biology, chemistry, medicine, meteorology, and engineering. It also focuses on training students in physical thinking methods. This textbook is both advanced, meeting the requirements for cultivating talent in the 21st century, and suitable for the context of physics education in China. Additionally, its rich and engaging content has been highly praised by colleagues, experts, and students. The book is divided into six chapters: Introduction, Equilibrium Theory of Molecular Kinetic Theory, Transport Phenomena and Non-Equilibrium Theory of Molecular Kinetic Theory, Thermodynamic Laws, The Second Law of Thermodynamics and Entropy, and States of Matter and Phase Transitions.
This book can be used as a textbook for physics majors in higher education institutions and is also suitable for reference by readers from other disciplines.