Elements of Classical Thermodynamics:For Advanced Students of Physics

by A.B. Pippard

The laws of thermodynamics are amongst the most assured and wide-ranging of all scientific laws. They do not pretend to explain any observation in molecular terms but, by showing the necessary relationships between different physical properties, they reduce otherwise disconnected results to compact order, and predict new effects. This classic title, first published in 1957, is a systematic exposition of principles, with examples of applications, especially to changes of places and the conditions for stability. In all this entropy is a key concept.

Genres: Physics

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

Reviews

[Yuxi Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written in the best tradition of British mathematics -- analytic, precise, a bit stuffy. Imagine G H Hardy + Littlewood... but without the Littlewood. A few relevant quotes:

Russell
> Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty — a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show.

Dirac
> A physical law must possess mathematical beauty.

After reading this I would deign to say that classical thermodynamics has passed the beauty test.

Unlike other fields of science, classical thermodynamics is like Euclidean geometry. I do not say this as a pure analogy. In a sense, classical thermodynamics *is* a kind of axiomatic differential geometry! See for example Carathéodory's thermodynamics, or The concepts of classical thermodynamics by Buchdahl 1966.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my undergrad lecturers said that Pippard's lectures were terrible, but I can say his book is excellent; far better than the text that was recommended to us.

[Goodfella]

A book that covers the fundamentals of thermodynamics, clear, but of course, it's not very intruitive. It's a good book if you want to really level up your thermodynamics skills. I didn't make much out of it because I didn't work through the excercises (don't remember if there were any), but still, I know what topics this book has and I can look for it when needed.