Thermal Physics

Robert Floyd Sekerka is University Professor Emeritus, Physics and Mathematics, Carnegie Mellon University. He received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in physics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1960 and his AM (1961) and PhD (1965) degrees from Harvard University where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. He worked as a senior engineer at Westinghouse Research Laboratories until 1969 when he joined the faculty of Carnegie Mellon in the Materials Science and Engineering Department; he was promoted to Professor in 1972 and was Department Head from 1976–82. He served as Dean of the Mellon College of Science from 1982 through 1991. Subsequently he was named University Professor of Physics and Mathematics with a courtesy appointment in Materials Science and Engineering. He retired in 2011 but continues to do scientific research and writing. He is a Fellow of the American Society for Metals, the American Physical Society, and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, and he has been a consultant to NIST for over forty years. Honors include the Phillip M. McKenna Award, the Frank Prize of the International Organization for Crystal Growth (President for six years) and the Bruce Chalmers Award of TMS. Please see http://sekerkaweb.phys.cmu.edu for further information and publications.

• PrefacePart I: Thermodynamics1. Introduction2. First Law of Thermodynamics3. Second Law of Thermodynamics4. Third Law of Thermodynamics5. Open Systems6. Equilibrium and Thermodynamic Potentials7. Requirements for Stability8. Monocomponent Phase Equilibrium9. Two-Phase Equilibrium for a van der Waals Fluid10. Binary Solutions11. External Forces and Rotating Coordinate Systems12. Chemical Reactions13. Thermodynamics of Fluid-Fluid Interfaces14. Thermodynamics of Solid-Fluid InterfacesPart II: Statistical Mechanics15. Entropy and Information Theory16. Microcanonical Ensemble17. Classical Microcanonical Ensemble18. Distinguishable Particles with Negligible Interaction Energies19. Canonical Ensemble20. Classical Canonical Ensemble21. Grand Canonical Ensemble22. Entropy for Any Ensemble23. Unified Treatment of Ideal Fermi, Bose and Classical Gases24. Bose Condensation25. Degenerate Fermi Gas26. Quantum Statistics27. Ising ModelPart III: AppendicesA. Stirling’s ApproximationB. Use of Jacobians to Convert Partial DerivativesC. Differential Geometry of SurfacesD. Equilibrium of Two-State SystemsE. Aspects of Canonical TransformationsF. Rotation of Rigid BodiesG. Thermodynamic Perturbation TheoryH. Selected Mathematical RelationsI. Creation and Annihilation Operators