``Introduction to Thermodynamics and Kinetics Theory of Matter'', John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (1996), ISBN 0 471 04755 4.

PREFACE

This book originated in a few courses of lectures for undergraduate physicists held at Novosibirsk University and for graduate chemists there and at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel). As an introduction intended for unprepared readers, the book does not require any background except in general mathematics and classical mechanics. However, an educational experiment carried out at Novosibirsk University required a fundamental study of the subject at the very beginning. The course was assumed to be sufficient for students of the third year to start their research work. To attain this goal one had to resort to a more detailed and picturesque presentation of the material and to inductive logic which leads the reader from observation and fact to the interpretation, and from particular conclusions to general ones. This presentation has been highly influenced by the feedback of the student audience and by the teaching experience of the author. The English edition of the book includes for the first time the Thermodynamics and a few original results of the author. Hopefully it will deserve as much attention as its Russian predecessors.

INTRODUCTION

Corpuscular models of the matter were already suggested in ancient times. Two thousand years later this outlook gave birth to a wonderful hybrid of a stochastic and a mechanical description of large ensembles of particles, statistical mechanics. This approach was brought to life by the desire to explain and to predict different properties of the matter based on the molecular structure alone. Concurrently or somewhat earlier thermodynamics was developed, which started from its own principles and introduced entropy, the most fundamental property of matter, which is statistical in its origin. In this book elementary statistical and kinetic theories are outlined prior to thermodynamics from which we need to borrow a few principal statements. However, one may as well start from the last chapter, where the basic concept of thermodynamics is outlined, and then proceed to the beginning.

The present monograph is intended both for a preliminary acquaintance with these disciplines and for their advanced study. The attention paid to gases and to condensed matter is more symmetrical than in most textbooks. For instance, equations of state are usually derived for ideal and real gases, while solids and liquids are left out of eyeshot. Yet, the phenomenology and the basic features of different aggregate states should be studied from the common viewpoint. This helps to reveal the similarities as well as differences between the rarefied and the condensed phases.

In the first Chapter the ideal and real molecular gases are considered first within the elementary approach and then on the basis of the canonical Gibbs' distribution. The classical and quantum theory of heat capacities, dielectric and magnetic properties and transport phenomena in dense and ultra-diluted gases are considered. In contrast to the classical ideal gas, the purely quantum photon gas is discussed in detail (Chapter II). Its phonon analog is used to reduce the heat motion of the lattice to a gas-like model of point quasi-particles moving in a solid as in a container (Chapter III). Taking account of anharmonicity in the phonon gas treatment allows the description of heat conductivity and the thermal expansion of crystals. Thereby, the behavior of gases and solids can be considered on a common footing, which contributes to better understanding of the both. On the other hand, solids and liquids may be confronted within semi-quantitative free volume theory which is an alternative to the conventional distribution function approach to the liquid phase. In Chapter IV we use the Lennard-Jones and Devonshire equations of state to explain the remarkable peculiarities of simple liquid behavior at high densities and pressures. For the first time a quasi-thermodynamics of inhomogeneous media is presented (Chapter V), which is actually the only self-consistent approach to the smooth gas-liquid interface. This approach has been successfully applied to the calculation of the density profile calculation the van der Waals theory of surface tension.

For a uniform quantitative description of gases, liquids and crystals we have used the best multiparametric equations of state approved by the Russian and USA National Bureau of Standards, which approximate experimental data within their accuracy limits. The figures and graphs which illustrate these data span a broad range of pressures, densities and temperatures, from gases to solids, and are of interest in themselves. In particular, they show how the compressibility factor F=p/nkT varies with pressure p and density n in any aggregate state and at the points of phase transitions. The ``pseudo-ideal'' states, where F=1, and the points of multiple crossing of isotherms are seen on compressibility factor charts. Their origin and physical interpretation have been discussed in the literature, but here the results have been collected for the first time. These results as well as the quasi-thermodynamic theory of the interface are original and may be of interest not only for students, but also for scientists and engineers .

Since the book is addressed to a broad audience, we have tried to make it as self-consistent as possible. Suggested reading is composed mainly of fundamental monographs and pioneering works partly forgotten. However a number of textbooks that may be useful for a more detailed and in-depth study of the subject are also included in the bibliography.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my coworker Dr. N.V. Shokhirev for a fruitful collaboration in a few original works and my secretaries in Novosibirsk ( Mrs. R.I. Ratushkova and S. Makarova) and in the Weizmann Institute of Science (Mrs. S. Newman) for technical assistance in preparing the manuscript. I am especially indebted to the first reader and editor of the English version, Ms. Adrienne Fairhall, for her outstanding help in shaping the language of the book.

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