AN INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICAL THERMODYNAMICS
by Robert P H Gasser (Oxford University) & W Graham Richards (Oxford University)
Dr Robert Gasser is currently Bursar of Brasenose College, Oxford. Formerly he was a University Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at Oxford. His first research was in the early days of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Subsequently he has worked on the application of ultra-high vacuum techniques to the study of the adsorption of gases by clean metal surfaces and the catalytic properties of these materials. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Yale University, Simon Fraser University, BC, and a Senior Research Associate at NASA Ames Research Center, California. This book arises from a course of lectures he gave to Oxford undergraduates.
Dr Graham Richards is a Reader in Computational Chemistry at the University of Oxford. He was the scientific founder of Oxford Molecular Group PLC, a publicly quoted company which specializes in computer software for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He is the executive technical director and a member of their Drug Design Services Division. He is the author of over 250 scientific papers and more than a dozen books. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of California Berkeley and Stanford University. Among his research consultancies are British Biotech, Hoechst Roussel and SmithKline Beecham. His current research is in the applications of theoretical chemistry to problems in molecular biophysics and drug design.
Statistical thermodynamics plays a vital linking role between quantum theory and chemical thermodynamics, yet students often find the subject unpalatable.
In this updated version of a popular text, the authors overcome this by emphasising the concepts involved, in particular demystifying the partition function. They do not get bogged down in the mathematical niceties that are essential for a profound study of the subject but which can confuse the beginner. Strong emphasis is placed on the physical basis of statistical thermodynamics and the relations with experiment. After a clear exposition of the distribution laws, partition functions, heat capacities, chemical equilibria and kinetics, the subject is further illuminated by a discussion of low-temperature phenomena and spectroscopy.
The coverage is brought right up to date with a chapter on computer simulation and a final section which ranges beyond the narrow limits usually associated with student texts to emphasise the common dependence of macroscopic behaviour on the properties of constituent atoms and molecules.
Since first published in 1974 as ‘Entropy and Energy Levels’, the book has been very popular with students. This revised and updated version will no doubt serve the same needs.
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