Statistical Mechanics: A Concise Introduction for Chemists

by B. Widom

Overview

This is an introduction to statistical mechanics, intended to be used either in an undergraduate physical chemistry course or by beginning graduate students with little undergraduate background in the subject. It assumes familiarity with thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, the kinetic theory of gases, quantum mechanics and spectroscopy, at the level at which these subjects are normally treated in undergraduate physical chemistry. Highly illustrated with numerous exercises and worked solutions, it provides a concise, up-to-date treatise of statistical mechanics and is ideally suited to use in one semester courses.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521811194
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/18/2002
Pages:	182
Product dimensions:	0.43(w) x 9.61(h) x 6.69(d)

About the Author

Benjamin Widom is Goldwin Smith Professor of Chemistry at Cornell University, New York. He received his PhD in Physical Chemistry from that University (where he studied with S. H. Bauer) in 1953, and was a postdoctoral associate with O. K. Rice at the University of North Carolina, before joining the Cornell chemistry faculty in 1954. Professor Widom's research speciality is statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, particularly as applied to problems of phase equilibria, critical phenomena, and interfacial structure and thermodynamics. He is co-author with Professor Sir John Rowlinson, of the University of Oxford, of the research monograph Molecular Theory of Capilliarity (1982). Professor Widom has held numerous prestigious visitorships, including ones at Amsterdam (van der Waals Professor), Oxford (IBM Visiting Professor of Theoretical Chemistry), Leiden (Lorentz Professor), and Utrecht (Kramers/Debye Professor). He has had many awards in recognition of his research in statistical mechanics, including the Boltzmann Medal of the IUPAP Commission on Statistical Physics and the Onsager Medal of the University of Trondheim. He has honorary degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Utrecht, and has been elected to membership or fellowship of several scholarly academies including the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

Table of Contents

1. The Boltzmann Distribution Law and statistical thermodynamics; 2. The ideal gas; 3. Chemical equilibrium in ideal-gas mixtures; 4. Ideal harmonic solid and black-body radiation; 5. Third law; 6. Non-ideal gas; 7. The liquid state; 8. Quantum ideal gas.

Editorial Reviews

'This elegant new book by Benjamin Widom provides an attractive alternative for those faculty and students who want to go further … Widom has written a volume … that shows students the beauty and power of the theory as well as some of its most important contemporary applications. The sections on molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods are amonng the best concise introductions to those techniques that I have read. The prose is clear and erudite reflecting the scientific and personal style of the author … This book should be in the hands of everyone who teaches undergraduate physical chemistry to provide a model for what can be tuaght in that course beyond the material contained in the standard textbooks. Graduate students and faculty who need to learn statistical mechanics can hardly find a better introduction. Even those who regularly teach a graduate course in this area will get some new ideas and inpsiration from one of the leading practitioners of the field.' Jefferey Kovac

‘Textbooks of statistical thermodynamics for chemists are notoriously thin on the ground as the subject, being so mathematical, is not to the taste of most chemists. Professor Widom has written a survey that many chemists will find accessible, useful, and modern. … The strengths of this excellent text are its accessibility, its authority, the range of topics treated, and its pedagogical style.’ Peter Atkins, University of Oxford

‘… Ben Widom’s writing style, like his lecture style, is absolutely compelling in its freshness and apparent simplicity … an important foundational textbook and instant classic in the field of Statistical Mechanics.’ Dor Ben-Amotz, Purdue University

'The text is an excellent read. Every paragraph contains reflective insights on the physical significance of the formulae and their underlying motivation. This makes a subject that is notorious for its difficulty seem simple. … the simplicity, depth of insight and the unusual range of topics in Benjamin Widom's Statistical Mechanics should make it compulsory reading for educators and students alike when they seek to go beyond the first steps of statistical mechanics.' Trevor Rayment, The Times Higher Education Supplement

From the Publisher