Contents

PART 1: The Birth of a Beautiful Theory
1. So what is all this talk about entropy?
2. The science of heat and work: Classical Thermodynamics
3. Much more about entropy
4. Link of thermodynamics to modern physics

PART 2: Entropy and Our Society, Culture, Planet, and our Universe
5. Entropy, the economic process, and the world’s environmental problems
6. Energy, entropy and life and heat death
7. The use of the concept of entropy in other sciences

Epilogue

Appendix I: Two more laws of thermodynamics?
Appendix II: Another way of looking at entropy
Appendix III: How does the gas heat up the air pump?
Appendix IV: Will shuffling a deck of cards change the entropy?
Appendix V: How much does the entropy change in the case of gas expansion and gas mixing?
Appendix VI: Thermodynamic Timeline
Appendix VII: Can the human body be considered a heat engine?
Appendix VIII: Ways to concentrate energy: nuclear energy, photovoltaic cells, and fuel cells
Appendix IX: Qualitative definitions and descriptions of entropy
Appendix X: Some simple calculations and interesting numbers
 

6 Responses to “Contents”

  1. Gary Says:

    December 1, 2007 at 10:24 pm

    John,

    Thank you for an interesting and engaging book!

    I’m confused by Figure 2.4 on page 19 that depicts V, P, and T of a gas in both reversible and irreversible scenarios.

    Based on Boyle’s law, shouldn’t the gas pressure plot be the inverse of the volume, regardless of scenario?

    Cheers,

    Gary

    Reply
  2. John Says:

    December 2, 2007 at 7:46 pm

    Hi Gary,

    You are absolutely right. The pressure should of course go up when we compress. I will correct that in a next version. Thanks for pointing this out.

    Best regards, John

    Reply
  3. Gary Rumsey Says:

    December 3, 2007 at 1:54 pm

    John,

    I believe T plot for irreversible process should be flipped also.

    Best regards,

    Gary

    Reply
  4. John Says:

    December 3, 2007 at 10:26 pm

    Gary,

    Indeed it should be flipped as well.

    I will place a correct version soon at the blog site.
    Apology for the confusion.

    Rgds, John

    Reply
  5. Tyler DesRoches Says:

    May 5, 2008 at 10:11 am

    Hi John,

    I just found your book and hope to read it soon.

    I noticed in Chapter 6 you state that all life depends on energy from the sun. There are various species that depend not on photosynthesis but the heat and various gases that originate from the earth’s core.

    All the best,

    Tyler DesRoches

    Reply
  6. John Says:

    May 6, 2008 at 8:28 pm

    Hi Tyler,

    Thanks for the good comment.
    If you start reading the book please take notice of the corrections on the correction page (I soon will put some more corrections, like your one, there)

    Rgds, John

    Reply

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