Product Description

"Atkins has set out to open the doors of understanding. He has succeeded quite admirably." New Scientist Moving from the steam engine to the nuclear age, and with virtually no mathematics, Atkins shows how the second law of thermodynamics - a single, simple principle of energy transformation - encompasses all elements of natural change.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #401283 in Books
• Published on: 1994-11-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

Customer Reviews

A book to broaden the mind
Quite a few students of chemistry and physics share a certain anxiety when it comes to thermodynamics. The word brings to mind an endless maze of partial differential equations and vague, hard-to-grasp concepts like path integrals and entropy. Entropy is a fundamental concept in nature, arguably even THE most fundamental. Regular courses in thermodynamics do not sufficiently highlight this fact. Worse, quite a few of those courses actually turn students away from the beautiful properties of entropy. Atkins' book can change all that. First of all, it is utterly comprehensible for any and all interested readers. After careful study, the reader will know more of entropy that the average college student fresh out of a thermodynamics course. Added to that, the reader will appreciate the crucial role of entropy in nature. If you're in college and are likely to run into thermodynamics, get this book and read it prior to your course. If you're out of college and still think that thermodynamics is a dirty word, this book will set you straight. It might even ensnare you to the beautiful world of entropy.

How a universe that's running down can create order
Atkins' book gives a lucid overview of the subject, particularly of the Second Law and its various formulations. The extremely clear atomic models - his "Mark I and II universes" - make the principles visually apparent. The fundamental message that Atkins gets across is that all order in the Universe is possible at the expense of creating a greater disorder elsewhere. This concept called entropy tells us that the universe runs down, and in so doing sustains small pockets of order such as the living beings on our planet.