Fetch Understanding Thermodynamics Originated By Hendrick C. Van Ness Presented As Manuscript
a lot with my class, not a “fun” read, Brilliantly concise. Might not help you pass exams no exercises and too nonstandard but it provides a different conceptual approach from most other thermodynamic books, Ness points out that one need not begin with the Carnot cycle and that there are equivalent approaches, I believe he cites a text by Zemansky as an example, Cannot find the exact name now because there is no index in this very inexpensive Dover publication, By leaving out so many details which weigh down readers in the standard texts , readers can focus on the key points of thermodynamics, Despite the brevity of the book, onlypages, the Boltzmann distribution is proven and Ness even goes through the steps of using the method of Lagrange multipliers in case readers are not familiar with it.
It was a useful read for me,
Nice!! I think it's a good book for high school students to get familiar with Thermodynamics,
also I suggest Engineering students to read the last chapter of book that it's about statistical mechanics, it's a good intro to the subject, Really accessible treatment. Found this through a stackoverflow recommendation and Im glad I did, Parts are a little dense for what claims to be a “nonrigorous” book, but overall really approachable, Also the cover art is sick, We are in, Hendrick is trying to show thermodynamics from different angles using mundane analogies so students can relate to say before an university course.
He starts explaining conservation of energy first law using a "ridiculous" story cooked up by Feynman, You will never forget the first law, NEVER. Because the mother goes incrementally deducing the law using sugar cubes, Her son is playing with the cubes in the living room and she just want to know what happens with them as the time goes by.
The boy can eat them, Or throw them in a lake or out of a window so squirrels may eat them, By the end, she figured out the first law of thermodynamics using her own means, This is a powerful methodology because learning becomes very entertaining, A nifty little book which is a good companion to a more rigorous treatment, His style is very Feynmanesque and lucid, The cost of this approach is that some subjects appear out of nowhere ideal gas internal energy depends solely on temperature during his discussion on cycles and he is fast and loose philosophically inexact differentials.
Short book, good read. It covers first and second law, focusing the latter on thermodynamic cycles and basic design considerations, I liked the section were a few basic calculations for a nuclear plant are made, specially the permanent temperature increase of the river water, which is used to condense steam.
Thermodynamics was never more effortless, Have dreaded the subject throughout the college life, In simple examples and stories, basic concepts of TD are clarified and made easy to recollect, I understood aboutof this book, maybe I'm dumb, reading this sure makes me feel dumb or maybe it's that fact I never even took calucalus in high school or that I can't foucus to well to grasp what is being said.
I didn't get very far in this book, but I'm marking it was read, and if that don't sit well with you then I double dog dare you to read this book and explainof it to me.
Well anyone A relatively easy to read book intended to develop one's intuition on the study of thermodynamics, Thermodynamics is by no means an easy subject and this book is not meant to be a replacement for a textbook in anyway, It even states that in the beginning of the book and it is evident as it is very much text heavy, trying to describe and explain rather than display much arithmatic.
It is meant to supplement the study alongside a much more rigorous text, I found it very helpful, yet I will certainly have to revisit this and other texts to better develop my understanding of the subject.
some of the reviewers here must have read a different book !
there is plenty of maths in it
really it is a text book, although the author does make a bit more effort at helping the reader to understand than does the average uni text book writer of thermo
he gives
the famous jelly bean explanation of the first law , borrowed from F as he states
he begins well by explaining no one can tell you what energy is, this come as a shock to many students who then trot out "i can, it is the capacity for doing work"
me "and what is work"
"work is force times distance!"
me " no, what IS work work is a form of energy, so you're telling me energy is the capacity for being energy"
as the book progresses there is more maths and less explanation.
if thermo is on your curriculum you may as well give this book a go, it might help Good book complemented by an insightful chapter on statistical mechanics.
A friendly, demystifying look at the laws of thermodynamics, It's good to have someone tell you, up front, that many of the "basics" of science are simply codifying of millions of observations, without a solid idea of what's behind it all.
Most of this little book avoids mathematics, for the math trogs like me among us, though a chapter or two near the end require a firm math knowledge.
It's best for Van Ness's welcoming voice, The book was enjoyable and covered the first and second law of Thermodynamics in an easily accessible manner, I especially like the retelling of the sugarcube story first related by Richard P, Feynman. The book also discusses the Carnot Cycle in an interesting way, The only problems I have with the book are that it is so short and that there aren't any problems to solve, However, the length is such that it is easy to leaf through and find a particular item, so I am rather torn on that.
Good book Clearly written treament elucidates fundamental concepts and demonstrates their plausibility and usefulness, Language is informal, examples are vivid and lively, and the perspectivie is fresh, Based on lectures delivered to engineering students, this work will also be valued by scientists, engineers, technicians, businessmen, anyone facing energy challenges of the future.
.