| Review: |
This book gives a deductive presentation of equilibrium systems based on a single hypothesis: the form of the canonical matrix. It also addresses the most important aspects of non-equilibrium phenomena. It begins with the fundamental concepts of probability theory and introducing the microcanonical ensemble and basic quantities such as entropy, pressure and temperature. Following chapters deal with thermodynamics, statistical mechanics of ideal systems, real gases and liquids, magnetism, phase transitions and critical phenomena, and irreversibility. There are problems at the ends of the chapters. |