Energy, Entropy, and the Flow of Nature
Author: Thomas F. Sherman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2018-03-08
Total Pages: 336
ISBN-13: 0190695366
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Energy, Entropy, and the Flow of Nature is an attempt to present the essential principles of energetics (thermodynamics) in a manner that is straight-forward, easy to understand, and logically consistent. It arises from the difficulties author Thomas F. Sherman has seen or experienced as a student of physical chemistry, as a teacher of biochemistry and biology, and as a colleague. The central message of the book is that all natural change can be understood as a flow across a gradient, and that part of the effect of every flow is to diminish its own gradient. The book's mission is to build understanding of the central concepts, and with understanding, a degree of confidence in going forth into the many directions that the study of energy opens up. The laws of energy and entropy can indeed, in their applications, become a very complicated subject involving multivariable calculus, differential equations, and challenging problems and calculations. The fundamentals of energetics should be very straightforward, requiring relatively little mathematics--and it is the fundamentals that this book focuses on.