Despite a long history of almost 180 years stretching back to the times of Carnot and, later, Clausius and Lord Kelvin, amongst others following him, the subject of thermodynamics has not as yet seen its full maturity, in the sense that the theory of irreversible processes has remained incomplete. The works of L. Onsager, J. Meixner, I. Prigogine on the thermodyn- ics of linear irreversible processes are, in effect, the early efforts toward the desired goal of giving an adequate description of irreversible processes, but their theory is confined to near-equilibrium phenomena. The works in recent years by various research workers on the extension of the aforem- tioned thermodynamic theory of linear irreversible processes are further efforts toward the goal mentioned. The present work is another of such efforts and a contribution to the subject of generalizing the thermodyn- ics of reversible processes, namely, equilibrium thermodynamics, to that of irreversible processes—non-equilibrium thermodynamics, without being restricted to linear irreversible processes. In this context the terms ‘far - moved from equilibrium’ is often used in the literature, and such states of macroscopic systems and non-linear irreversible phenomena in them are the objects of interest in this work. The thermodynamics of processes, either reversible or irreversible, is a continuum mechanical theory of matter and energy and their exchange between different parts of the system, and as such it makes no direct r- erence to the molecules constituting the substance under consideration.

Keywords

Authors and Affiliations

McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Byung Chan Eu

Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Generalized Thermodynamics
Book Subtitle: The Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes and Generalized Hydrodynamics
Authors: Byung Chan Eu
Series Title: Fundamental Theories of Physics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48049-2
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2002
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-0788-0Published: 31 July 2002
Softcover ISBN: 978-90-481-6090-7Published: 15 December 2010
eBook ISBN: 978-0-306-48049-2Published: 11 April 2006
Series ISSN: 0168-1222
Series E-ISSN: 2365-6425
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 344
Topics: Complex Systems, Physical Chemistry, Condensed Matter Physics, Classical and Continuum Physics, Automotive Engineering, Statistical Physics and Dynamical Systems

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

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