本书是一部全面介绍热物理学入门的本科生教程(全英文版)。该书的内容分为三大部分：第1部分介绍了热物理学基本原理；第2，3部分分别详细介绍了热动力学和统计力学技巧以及它们的在实践中的应用。本书最大的特点是内容广泛，结合实际，形象易懂，包含了尽可能多的应用实例，涉及诸多领域，例如，化学、生物、地理、环境科学、工程、低温物理、固态物理、宇宙学、天体物理学等。这本书浅显易懂，只要能够了解基本物理学以及一年的微积分就可以读懂这本书。本书还给出了一个附录，其中包括一些书中用到的必需结果。

Preface

Part I: Fundamentals

Chapter 1 Energy in Thermal Physics

1.1 Thermal Equilibrium

1.2 The Ideal Gas

Microscopic Model of an Ideal Gas

1.3 Equipartition of Energy

1.4 Heat and Work

1.5 Compression Work

Compression of an Ideal Gas

1.6 Heat Capacities

Latent Heat; Enthalpy

1.7 Rates of Processes

Heat Conduction; Conductivity of an Ideal Gas;

Viscosity; Diffusion

Chapter 2 The Second Law

2.1 Two-State Systems

The Two-State Paramagnet

2.2 The Einstein Model of a Solid

2.3 Interacting Systems

2.4 Large Systems

Very Large Numbers; Stirling's Approximation;

Multiplicity of a Large Einstein Solid;

Sharpness of the Multiplicity Function

2.5 The Ideal Gas

Multiplicity of a Monatomic Ideal Gas;

Interacting Ideal Cases

2.6 Entropy

Entropy of an Ideal Gas; Entropy of Mixing;

Reversible and Irreversible Processes

Chapter 3 Interactions and Implications

3.1 Temperature

A Silly Analogy; Real-World Examples

3.2 Entropy and Heat

Predicting Heat Capacities; Measuring Entropies;

The Macroscopic View of Entropy

3.3 Paramagnetism

Notation and Microscopic Physics; Numerical Solution;

Analytic Solution

3.4 Mechanical Equilibrium and Pressure

The Thermodynamic Identity; Entropy and Heat Revisited

3.5 Diffusive Equilibrium and Chemical Potential

3.6 Summary and a Look Ahead

Part II: Thermodynamics

Chapter 4 Engines and Refrigerators

4.1 Heat Engines

The Carnot Cycle

4.2 Refrigerators

4.3 Real Heat Engines

Internal Combustion Engines; The Steam Engine

4.4 Real Refrigerators

The Throttling Process; Liquefaction of Gases;

Toward Absolute Zero

Chapter 5 Free Energy and Chemical Thermodynamics

5.1 Free Energy as Available Work

Electrolysis, Fuel Cells, and Batteries;

Thermodynamic Identities

5.2 Free Energy as a Force toward Equilibrium

Extensive and Intensive Quantities; Gibbs Free Energy

and Chemical Potential

5.3 Phase Transformations of Pure Substances

Diamonds andS]Graphite; The Clausius-Clapeyron

Relation; The van der Waals Model

5.4 Phase Transformations of Mixtures

Free Energy of a Mixture; Phase Changes of a Miscible

Mixture; Phase Changes of a Eutectic System

5,5 Dilute Solutions

Solvent and Solute Chemical Potentials; Osmotic Pressure;

Boiling and Freezing Points

5.6 Chemical Equilibrium

Nitrogen Fixation; Dissociation of Water; Oxygen

Dissolving in Water; Ionization of Hydrogen

Part III: Statistical Mechanics

Chapter 6 Boltzmann Statistics

6.1 The Boltzmann Factor

The Partition Function; Thermal Excitation of Atoms

6.2 Average Values

Paramagnetism; Rotation of Diatomic Molecules

6.3 The Equipartition Theorem

6.4 The Maxwell Speed Distribution

6.5 Partition Functions and Free Energy

6.6 Partition Functions for Composite Systems

6.7 Ideal Gas Revisited

The Partition Function; Predictions

Chapter 7 Quantum Statistics

7.1 The Gibbs Factor

An Example: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

7.2 Bosons and Fermions

The Distribution Functions

7.3 Degenerate Fermi Gases

Zero Temperature; Small Nonzero Temperatures;

The Density of States; The Sommerfeld Expansion

7.4 Blackbody Radiation

The Ultraviolet Catastrophe; The Planck Distribution;

Photons; Summing over Modes; The Planck Spectrum;

Total Energy; Entropy of a Photon Gas; The Cosmic

Background Radiation; Photons Escaping through a Hole;

Radiation from Other Objects; The Sun and the Earth

7.5 Debye Theory of Solids

7.6 Bose-Einstein Condensation

Real-World Examples; Why Does it Happen?

Chapter 8 Systems of Interacting Particles

8.1 Weakly Interacting Gases

The Partition Fhnction; The Cluster Expansion;

The Second Virial Coefficient

8.2 The Ising Model of a Ferromagnet

Exact Solution in One Dimension;

The Mean Field Approximation;

Monte Carlo Simulation