Thermodynamics

by Edward E. Anderson

This book aims to help readers develop a practical, systems-based understanding of thermodynamics. Organized around system tapes, it introduces the second law of thermodynamics at the outset, and then integrates the first and second laws of thermodynamics in the study of all systems throughout the book. In presenting new topics, the author moves from the qualitative, concrete and familiar to the quantitative, and leads the student to see the real-world...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0534932940
• ISBN13: 9780534932947
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company
• Length: 761 Pages
• Weight: 2.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 7.5" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Concise and nearly intuitive.

Surely this is one of the most readable, concise undergraduate textbooks on the difficult-to-conceptualize subject of general thermodynamics. The writing avoids excessive detail well, easing the task of learning. Unlike so many authors, Anderson does not "define" a term by merely using it in a sentence; important to understanding, proper definitions are not grudged. Explaining concepts before derivation or analysis is in fact true for the entire book. Compared to most texts, the background theory to most topics is slightly less thorough, but most students will say it is less ponderous.The layout is exceptionally attractive and well spaced, explaining the average size of this book despite its concise writing. Discouraging math-outs are happily avoided. One of the book's instructive diagrams, charts or graphs appears on nearly every page.Answers to every third problem appear in the appendix, as does a quick review of mathematical functions commonly used in thermodynamics.All these features, in this reviewer's opinion, would accelerate learning thermodynamics, the most abstract science course in most students' list of required courses.