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A History of Thermodynamics

The Doctrine of Energy and Entropy

  • Book
  • © 2007

Overview

Authors:
  1. Ingo Müller

    1. Thermodynamik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

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  • Easy to read, all-embracing history of themrodynamics, informative, compact and sometimes amusing
  • Describes the long development of thermodynamics incl. a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation to the conceptually simple and extremely useful theory that we know today
  • Not only concentrating on the famous physicists who developed thermodynamics, but also on the engineers who have invented thermodynamic machines and processes, and on meteorologists, metallurgists and chemical engineers who applied thermodynamics in their field
  • Includes a lot of original citations

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-X
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  2. Temperature

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 1-7

  3. Energy

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 9-46

  4. Entropy

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 47-77

  5. Entropy as S = k ln W

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 79-126

  6. Chemical Potentials

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 127-164

  7. Third Law of Thermodynamics

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 165-196

  8. Radiation Thermodynamics

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 197-232

  9. Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 233-272

  10. Fluctuations

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 273-287

  11. Relativistic Thermodynamics

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 289-305

  12. Metabolism

    • Ingo Müller
    Pages 307-324

  13. Back Matter

    Pages 325-330
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Keywords

About this book

The most exciting and significant episode of scientific progress is the development of thermodynamics and electrodynamics in the 19th century and early 20th century. The nature of heat and temperature was recognized, the conservation of energy was discovered, and the realization that mass and energy are equivalent provided a new fuel, – and unlimited power. Much of this occurred in unison with the rapid technological advance provided by the steam engine, the electric motor, internal combustion engines, refrigeration and the rectification processes of the chemical industry. The availability of cheap power and cheap fuel has had its impact on society: Populations grew, the standard of living increased, the envir- ment became clean, traffic became easy, and life expectancy was raised. Knowledge fairly exploded. The western countries, where all this happened, gained in power and influence, and western culture – scientific culture – spread across the globe, and is still spreading. At the same time, thermodynamics recognized the stochastic and probabilistic aspect of natural processes. It turned out that the doctrine of energy and entropy rules the world; the first ingredient – energy – is deterministic, as it were, and the second – entropy – favours randomness. Both tendencies compete, and they find the precarious balance needed for stability and change alike.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"Müller … summarizes the historical development of thermodynamic concepts, going into great depth to detail how certain discoveries were interconnected and how numerous researchers developed these theories based on current available knowledge. … Readers will appreciate how researchers in the 19th century had to develop basic concepts … . Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals." (H. Giesche, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (2), 2007)

"An exhaustive history and presentation of current state of research in the subject of thermodynamics. … This book is too good … . The author is an important leader in this field, with most impressive record of research publications. This is a great book, which should be in the library of any scientist interested in thermodynamics. It is easy to read … . It contains a lot of information about thermodynamics, certainly the history, and biographies of prominent creators of our knowledge." (Vadim Komkov, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1131 (9), 2008)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Thermodynamik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Ingo Müller

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