Textbook Guide

Thermodynamics is a cornerstone of many scientific disciplines. As such, there are many different textbooks that address this important subject—and a corresponding myriad of conventions, terminologies, and notations used. This section is designed to sort all of that out—at least for the specific reference textbooks considered here, listed (by discipline) below.

The list includes the latest edition of the most commonly used texts. Please do not be too discouraged if you do not see your primary text listed below; given the multiple disciplines represented, it is an inevitability that many excellent textbooks have to be omitted. That said, a greatly expanded list of reference texts is available on the companion website (http://www.conceptualthermo.com), which you should also consult. There, you will find customized, textbook-specific materials for the older and (as they are released) newer editions of the textbooks listed below—as well as for many other texts that are less frequently used.

If your favorite book is not listed on the website, please feel free to let me know via the website itself, or by sending an email directly to feedback@conceptualthermo.com. Please send detailed information (including ISBN) for the textbook that you are using, so that I can incorporate it into future book materials. In any case, you can still learn from the conceptual explanations provided in this book, without necessarily having to own any thermodynamics textbook.

Whether you wind up loving or hating this book, or somewhere in between, I certainly would appreciate your feedback—especially in the form of helpful suggestions for making it better. You can submit these via the website and email address above. If you like the book, consider spreading the word—to professors, social media friends, and even real friends, as appropriate.

0.1 List of Thermodynamics Textbooks by Discipline

In the list below, the boldfaced word at the start of each bibliographic entry is the keyword that will be used throughout the rest of this book to refer to that specific reference textbook. (In all but one case, the keyword is simply the first author's last name.) When looking up your primary textbook here, be sure to pay close attention to the edition number and publication year.

Thermodynamics Textbooks

1. Biological Sciences:
   1. Atkins-life: P. Atkins and J. de Paula, Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences, second edition (W. H. Freeman, 2011).
   2. Chang: R. Chang, Physical Chemistry for the Biosciences (University Science Books, 2005).
   3. Tinoco: I. Tinoco, Jr., K. Sauer, J. C. Wang, J. D. Puglisi, G. Harbison, and D. Rovnyak, Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences, fifth edition (Prentice-Hall, 2013).
2. Chemistry:
   1. Atkins: P. Atkins and J. de Paula, Physical Chemistry, ninth edition (W. H. Freeman, 2010).
   2. Engel: T. Engel and P. Reid, Physical Chemistry, third edition (Pearson, 2013).
   3. Levine: I. N. Levine, Physical Chemistry, sixth edition (McGraw-Hill, 2009).
   4. McQuarrie: D. A. McQuarrie and J. D. Simon, Physical Chemistry (University Science Books, 1997).
   5. Silbey: R. J. Silbey, R. A. Alberty, and M. G. Bawendi, Physical Chemistry, fourth edition (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005).
3. Engineering:
   1. Cengel: Y. A. Çengel and M. A. Boles, Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, seventh edition (McGraw-Hill, 2012).
   2. Elliot: J. R. Elliott and C. T. Lira, Introductory Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, second edition (Prentice-Hall, 2012).
   3. Moran: M. J. Moran, H. N. Shapiro, D. D. Boettner, and M. B. Bailey, Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics, seventh edition (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012).
   4. Prausnitz: J. M. Prausnitz, R. N. Lichtenthaler, and E. Gomes de Azevedo, Molecular Thermodynamics of Fluid-Phase Equilibria, third edition (Prentice-Hall, 1999).
   5. Sandler: S. I. Sandler, Chemical, Biochemical, and Engineering Thermodynamics, fourth edition (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006).
   6. Smith: J. M. Smith, H. C. Van Ness, and M. M. Abbott, Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, seventh edition (McGraw-Hill, 2005).
4. Geosciences:
   1. Anderson: G. Anderson, Thermodynamics of Natural Systems, second edition (Cambridge University Press, 2005).
   2. Faure: G. Faure, Principles and Applications of Geochemistry, second edition (Prentice-Hall, 1998).
5. Physics:
   1. Baierlein: R. Baierlein, Thermal Physics (Cambridge University Press, 1999).
   2. Callen: H. B. Callen, Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics, second edition (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1985).
   3. Kittel: C. Kittel and H. Kroemer, Thermal Physics, second edition (W. H. Freeman, 1980).
   4. Reif: F. Reif, Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics (McGraw-Hill, 1965; reprinted by Waveland Pr, 2008).
   5. Schroeder: D. Schroeder, An Introduction to Thermal Physics (Addison-Wesley, 2000).

0.2 Terminology and Notation Used in This Book

The terminology and mathematical notation of the most important physical, chemical, and thermodynamic quantities that are employed in this book are listed in the table below. The page on which each quantity is first introduced or defined is also listed.

Terminology and Notation

0.3 Terminology and Notation Used in Textbooks

Consult the key below to “translate” the terminology and notation of this book into that of your primary textbook (or to the IUPAC Gold Book standard). The key is easy to use. Textbooks are listed by keyword, in alphabetical order. Unless stated otherwise, the notation used here, and that of a given text, are presumed to be identical. Where the two notations differ, that of this book appears to the left of the arrows presented in the key, and that of the textbook to the right.

For example, after the Atkins keyword below, the string...