Fundamentals and Practice in Statistical Thermodynamics


Book Description

Bridge the gap between thermodynamic theory and engineering practice with this essential textbook Thermodynamics is a discipline which straddles the fields of chemistry, physics, and engineering, and has long been a mainstay of undergraduate and graduate curricula. Conventional thermodynamics courses, however, often ignore modern developments in statistical mechanics, such as molecular simulation methods, cooperative phenomena, phase transitions, universality, as well as liquid-state and polymer theories, despite their close relevance to both fundamental research and engineering practice. Fundamentals and Practice in Statistical Thermodynamics fills this gap with an essential book that applies up-to-date statistical-mechanical techniques to address the most crucial thermodynamics problems found in chemical and materials systems. It is ideally suited to introduce a new generation of researchers and molecular engineers to modern thermodynamic topics with numerous cutting-edge applications. From Fundamentals and Practice in Statistical Thermodynamics readers will also find: An introduction to statistical-mechanical methods including molecular dynamics simulation, Monte Carlo simulation, as well as the molecular theories of phase transitions, classical fluids, electrolyte solutions, polymeric materials, and more Illustrative examples and exercise problems with solutions to facilitate student understanding Supplementary online materials covering the basics of quantum mechanics, density functional theory, variational principles of classical mechanics, intermolecular interactions, and many more subjects Fundamentals and Practice in Statistical Thermodynamics is ideal for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in chemical engineering, biomolecular engineering, environmental engineering, materials science and engineering, and all related scientific subfields of physics and chemistry.




AMolecular Description of Biological Membrane Components by Computer Aided Conformational Analysis


Book Description

First published in 1990, the goal of these two volumes is to help fill the gap between theory and experiment in membrane science. Those involved with biochemistry, biophysics, pharmacology, and biology will find these volumes interesting and informative.




Modeling Complexity in Economic and Social Systems


Book Description

Economics and the social sciences are, in fact, the ?hard? sciences, as Herbert Simon argued, because the complexity of the problems dealt with cannot simply be reduced to analytically solvable models or decomposed into separate subprocesses. Nevertheless, in recent years, the emerging interdisciplinary ?sciences of complexity? have provided new methods and tools for tackling these problems, ranging from complex data analysis to sophisticated computer simulations. In particular, advanced methods developed in the natural sciences have recently also been applied to social and economic problems.The twenty-one chapters of this book reflect this modern development from various modeling perspectives (such as agent-based models, evolutionary game theory, reinforcement learning and neural network techniques, time series analysis, non-equilibrium macroscopic dynamics) and for a broad range of socio-economic applications (market dynamics, technological evolution, spatial dynamics and economic growth, decision processes, and agent societies). They jointly demonstrate a shift of perspective in economics and the social sciences that is allowing a new outlook in this field to emerge.




The Logic of Thermostatistical Physics


Book Description

This book is devoted to a thorough analysis of the role that models play in the practise of physical theory. The authors, a mathematical physicist and a philosopher of science, appeal to the logicians’ notion of model theory as well as to the concepts of physicists.




Mathematical Constants


Book Description

Steven Finch provides 136 essays, each devoted to a mathematical constant or a class of constants, from the well known to the highly exotic. This book is helpful both to readers seeking information about a specific constant, and to readers who desire a panoramic view of all constants coming from a particular field, for example, combinatorial enumeration or geometric optimization. Unsolved problems appear virtually everywhere as well. This work represents an outstanding scholarly attempt to bring together all significant mathematical constants in one place.




EPA-600/2


Book Description




Out of the Crystal Maze


Book Description

This landmark work chronicles the origin and evolution of solid state physics, which grew to maturity between 1920 and 1960. The book examines the early roots of the field in industrial, scientific and artistic efforts and traces them through the 1950s, when many physicists around the world recognized themselves as members of a distinct subfield of physics research centered on solids. The book opens with an account of scientific and social developments that preceded the discovery of quantum mechanics, including the invention of new experimental means for studying solids and the establishment of the first industrial laboratories. The authors set the stage for the modern era by detailing the formulation of the quantum field theory of solids. The core of the book examines six major themes: the band theory of solids; the phenomenology of imperfect crystals; the puzzle of the plastic properties of solids, solved by the discovery of dislocations; magnetism; semiconductor physics; and collective phenomena, the context in which old puzzles such as superconductivity and superfluidity were finally solved. All readers interested in the history of science will find this absorbing volume an essential resource for understanding the emergence of contemporary physics.







Order, Disorder And Criticality: Advanced Problems Of Phase Transition Theory - Volume 7


Book Description

This book is the seventh volume of review chapters on advanced problems of phase transitions and critical phenomena, the former six volumes appeared in 2004, 2007, 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2020. The aim of the book is to provide reviews in those aspects of criticality and related subjects that are currently attracting much attention due to essential new contributions.The book consists of five chapters. They discuss criticality of complex systems, where the new, emergent properties appear via collective behaviour of simple elements as well as historical aspects of studies in the field of critical phenomena. Since all complex systems involve cooperative behaviour between many interconnected components, the field of phase transitions and critical phenomena provides a very natural conceptual and methodological framework for their study.As the first six volumes, this book is based on the review lectures that were given in Lviv (Ukraine) at the 'Ising lectures' — a traditional annual workshop on complex systems, phase transitions and critical phenomena which aims to bring together experts in these fields with university students and those who are interested in the subject.




Statistical Physics


Book Description

This book explores statistical physics, with an emphasis on the distinct character of the statistical motion and difficult subjects, related, mainly, to condensed matter. It discusses the interaction problem in real gases, as well as dimensionality effects and melting. The book shows how to estimate easily the critical temperature of the Ising ferromagnets, the origin of the drag force, how to get an inverse-wind vortex in turbulence, the entropy of the earthquakes, and how the gas-liquid transition occurs. It also describes the hadronization of the quark-gluon plasma, the phase diagram of the quantum chromodynamics, and the thermodynamics of black holes.