Finn’s Thermal Physics, 3rd Edition

This fully updated and expanded new edition continues to provide the most readable, concise, and easy-to-follow introduction to thermal physics. While maintaining the style of the original work, the book now covers statistical mechanics and incorporates worked examples systematically throughout the text. It also includes more problems and essential updates, such as discussions on superconductivity, magnetism, Bose-Einstein condensation, and climate change. Anyone needing to acquire an intuitive understanding of thermodynamics from first principles will find this third edition indispensable.

Andrew Rex

is professor of physics at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. He is author of several textbooks and the popular science book, Commonly Asked Questions in Physics.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Temperature
Chapter 2: Reversible Processes and Work
Chapter 3: The First Law of Thermodynamics
Chapter 4: The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Chapter 5: Entropy
Chapter 6: Statistical Mechanics
Chapter 7: The Thermodynamic Potentials and the Maxwell Relations
Chapter 8: General Thermodynamic Relations
Chapter 9: Magnetic Systems
Chapter 10: Phase Changes
Chapter 11: Open Systems and Chemical Potential
Chapter 12: The Third Law of Thermodynamics
Chapter 13: Quantum statistics
Appendix A: Values of Physical Constants and Conversion Factors
Appendix B: Some Mathematical Relations Used in Thermodynamics
Appendix C: The Work Required to Magnetize a Magnetic Material and to Polarize a Dielectric
Appendix D: Answers to Selected Problems