قانون دوم: انرژی، آشوب و شکل

Scientific American Library Series #10

by Peter Atkins

All natural change is subject to one law. It's the second law of thermodynamics. In this volume, the acclaimed chemist and science writer P. W. Atkins shows how this single, simple principle of energy transformation accounts for all natural change. Moving from the steam engine to the nuclear age, the narrative is full of vivid examples, ideas, and images--but virtually no mathematics.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, History, Chemistry, Technology

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Peter William Atkins is an English chemist and a Fellow of Lincoln College at the University of Oxford. He retired in 2007. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks, including Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Molecular Quantum Mechanics. Atkins is also the author of a number of popular science books, including Atkins' Molecules, Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science and On Being.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Tatiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just reread this book from the early 80s, published as part of a series from Scientific American. I remember thinking it was super profound and important when I read it the first time. This time it seemed to go way too slowly and didn't contain anything surprising. So maybe I remember every single thing I learned from it and all of it stuck. I may also have a shorter attention span now after a decade or two of internet surfing. I do think I took time to enjoy a book more back then. Has anyone else noticed a change in their book-attention-span from being online a lot?

The cellular automata which were pretty cool back then seem much tamer now but still a great way to illustrate the principles involved. I probably would've given this book 4 stars, and maybe even 5, when I read it back when it first came out. The information in it is still true and still fundamental to an understanding of physics, cosmology, technology, and energy use. So it's still highly recommended to anyone who's interested in that sort of stuff. But I wasn't thrilled and riveted this time like I remember from before. Sad when that happens.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

برای من قانون دوم ترمودینامیک همیشه یکی از فلسفی ترین جنبه های فیزیک بوده. این قانون همه جای فرایند های سازنده جهان هستی حضور داره و براساس این قانون همیشه انتروپی جهان در حال افزایشه.فکر کردن به این ایده که همه فرایندهای جهان هستی حتی حیات تحت سیطره ی این قانون هستند و افزایش بی وقفه بی نظمی و اتلاف انرژی در همه حال و درهر فرایندی باید صورت بگیره بعضی وقتا ترسناک به نظر میرسه. در این کتاب مفاهیم قانون دوم و انتروپی و افزایش بی وقفه آشوب و بینظمی به شکلی بسیار زیبا و نسبتا ساده توضیح داده شده. اگر کمی از مباحث آنتروپی دروس شیمی و فیزیک دبیرستان یادتون مونده و هنوز هم علاقه مند درک ماهیت فرایندهای اسرار آمیز جهان فیزیکی هستید توصیه می کنم خوندن این کتاب رو از دست ندید. این کتاب دیدگاه من {به عنوان یک علاقه مندِ بدون تحصیلات آکادمیک در فیزیک} رو نسبت به ماهیت گرما و انتروپی به شدت ارتقا داد. یکی از چیزهای خیلی عجیبی که قبلا خونده بودم ولی واقعا درکش نمی کردم دماهای زیر صفر درجه کلوین بود. همیشه بی اندازه سردرگم و کنجکاو می شدم وقتی می شنیدم نمیشه با کم کردن دما به صفر مطلق رسید ولی دانشمندان در آزمایشگاه به دماهای زیر صفر مطلق دست پیدا کرده اند . در این کتاب این مسٔله هم به زیبایی توضیح داده شده. حتی نویسنده پا رو از این هم فراتر گذاشته و شرح داده که چرا فرایند های مربوط به فرگشت و پیدایش حیات کاملا زاییده قانون دوم ترمودینامیک هستند. در مجموع اگر از خوندن داستان آخرین سوال آسیموف خوشتون اومده و یه سوالایی تو ذهنتون شکل گرفته می تونید مطمئن باشید از این کتاب هم خوشتون میاد.

[Austin Lynch · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read, and probably one of only a few books that approaches thermodynamics in this way conceptually. I came to this book looking for something a little more divorced from the typical steam engine hot-source cold-sink explanations, but Atkins still relies pretty heavily on these models. In the back half of the book, he expands the scope more into chemistry and biology, which helps to show the all-encompassing nature of the second law.

Felt like I was just along for the ride at times, but that's probably more a consequence of the spotty attention I was sometimes paying to it.

[Roberto Rigolin F Lopes · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are in 1984, Atkins starts with the hypothesis that "all natural change is subject to one law". The second law of thermodynamics. Terrific. Because this book is a fine craft of a masterful teacher discussing a fundamental law of nature using accessible language and tons of illustrations. This is rare, a very good use of solar energy by a human being. He starts showing how heat flows within the simplest engine. I mean it. He SHOWS nature’s dissymmetry with striking illustrations (say using Mark I and II universes). And goes incrementally adding heat to the discussion until complete chaos. Wow. Then life shows up as an unnatural and ephemeral process fueled by solar energy and, by consequence, also pushing the universe to equilibrium. Then, bye-bye work; game over.

[Sasha Mircov · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second law of thermodynamics, a law that states that heat flows from hotter to colder systems, is by far the most puzzling of all physical laws. Not because it defies intuition or common sense but because of its statistical nature. The heat flow as observed (dissipation of energy, rise in entropy, etc.) is only more probable than the other way around.

The Second Law by Atkins is a beautiful book, both in content and form, and it is suitable for both the bedside table and the coffee table. Because, as we all know, nothing sparks the conversation at the cocktail party as the second law of thermodynamics :).

[Doug Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering my traumatic experience with two classes on thermodynamics way back in my college days, it says something that the author can make the subject so interesting and that I could still follow along at my age. This would have been a big help back then to provide a low-level, molecular explanation to what we had to learn by blindly looking numbers up in steam tables, etc.

[Danial · Rating 4 out of 5]

این کتاب توسط پیتر اتکینز در سال۱۹۸۴ نوشته شد و سپس در سال ۱۹۹۴ توسط خودش تغییرات جزیی پیدا کرد. این کتاب قانون دوم ترمودینامیک رو با جزییات بسیار توضیح میده البته همراه با سه قانون دیگه چون چهار قانون ترمودینامیک مستقل از هم نیستن، مکمل همدیگن.
اما متن و توضیحات کتاب خیلی روون نیست و ممکنه برای کسی که دیدی از ترمودینامیک نداره سخت باشه، چون یکمی گنگه و اگه با زبون ساده تری توضیح میداد بهتر بود. به علاوه اینکه این کتاب اصلا ترجمه خوبی نداره بخاطر همین این دو باعث شدن که این کتاب جز آهسته ترین و سخت ترین کتاب ها در روند خوندنم بشه.
جدای از همه اگه با این شرایط کنار بیاید و کتابو تا اخر بخونید جلوه ی زیبای ترمودینامیک به روتون باز میشه و دید و آگاهی جدیدی به زندگی پیدا میکنید و از حضورش در تمام زندگی آگاه میشین.

[Uladzislau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Термодинамику проходят все в школьном курсе физики. Но очень мало кто понимает, о чем это. А в этой книге качественное понимание термодинамики дается на примере исключительно простых аналогий. Понятно должно быть самому неискушенному читателю. Начинается все предельно просто - теплота, работа, двигатель, энтропия, а в результате мы получаем два важнейших фундаментальных свойства Вселенной:
1. Сложная упорядоченная структура вполне себе может образовываться самопроизвольно, без всякого предварительного замысла, но только за счет общего роста энтропии Вселенной.
2. Сложность, устойчивость и кажущаяся целенаправленность Вселенной есть следствие очень простых явлений, управляемых не очень строгой системой правил.
Приятного чтения!

[Nick Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really incredible book. Before this I had a very superficial understanding of entropy - enough to know how it is being used in thermodynamic equations. Now I feel like I understand it on a more basic level. I wish had I read this in school along with the more practical textbooks (including others by Atkins) that we used.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really accessible text on the 2nd Law and how it affects everything around us.

[Jovany Agathe · Rating 3 out of 5]

humm

[Carlos Montijo]

Recommended:
https://tim.blog/2018/06/04/the-tim-f...

[Steve Schardein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profound. Deep. Mystifying. Orthogonal.

[Joe B · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some lovely colour illustrations here almost showing how it works (just imagine a planar Rubik Cube and its growth from perfect order to the partly random to .. total chaos!! He links it very early and comprehensively with heat engines. It is not too mathematical, and Atkins writes clearly enough.

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and interdisciplinary introduction to thermodynamics, particularly as it applies to steam engines and disorder.

[Brendan]

Just skimmed through