Editorial Review:
This text gives students a clear and easily understood introduction to entropy - a central concept in thermodynamics, but one which is often regarded as the most difficult to grasp. Professor Dugdale first presents a classical and historical view of entropy, looking in detail at the scientists who developed the concept, and at how they arrived at their ideas. This is followed by a statistical treatment which provides a more physical portrait of entropy, relating it to disorder and showing how physical and chemical systems tend to states of order at low temperatures. Dugdale includes here a brief account of some of the more intriguing manifestations of order in properties such as superconductivity and superfluidity.; "Entropy and Its Physical Meaning" also includes a number of exercises which can be used for both self- learning and class work. It is intended to provide a complete understanding of the concept of entropy, making it valuable reading for undergraduates in physics, physical sciences and engineering, and for students studying thermodynamics within other science courses such as meteorology, biology and medicine.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Excellent, brief survey of thermal physics--macro & micro. 1999-11-16
Teachers and college students: here is a clear, friendly intro. to thermodynamics and statistical mechaniocs. (Don't be deceived by the title--it is not a specialist tract on entropy, that is only a convenient hook for author to hang a title.) Prof. Dugdale has a fine instinct for picking out the important highlights at the college-level. A quick and easy read (compared to standard textbooks). Should be ideal as refresher for the teacher and as textbook supplement for the student. (Probably it is too brief for a textbook for a one-quarter course, unless teacher supplements with extra material and adds a few more problems at chapter ends.) I was grateful that there were only a few problems at chapter ends -- and not too hard, either; this made it less guilt-inducing for me just to read the book w/o doing the problems, since time did not permit the latter. My understanding did not suffer noticably from this "casual" approach. There are original touches throughout, including a most fresh discussion of the second law enlivened with extracts from Carnot's own discussion of his ideal engine. Historical asides such as these are a rare item in a Physics book and reading this I began to see what a treat I've been missing all these years! The book has 3 sections: Part I on macro thermo, Part 2 on stat. mech, and a short Part 3 on low temperatures. A well-balanced presentation, and at an affordable price.
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