Fundamentals of Thermodynamics

A concise treatment of the fundamentals of thermodynamics is presented in this book. In particular, emphasis is placed on discussions of the second law, a unique feature of thermodynamics, which states the limitations of converting thermal energy into mechanical energy. The entropy function that permits the loss in the potential of a real thermodynamic process to be assessed, the maximum possible work in a process, and irreversibility and equilibrium are deduced from the law through physica...