Description

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. This text begins with a consideration of simple Boltzmann statistics, with particular application to the model of systems with two quantum states, and the Einstein and Debye treatments of the specific heats of a metal. After discussion of the Darwin-Fowler calculation of average distributions, the discussion moves on to the Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics of non-localized particles, and then to the classical limit approached by quantized systems in situations such as gas behavior and distributions of electric dipoles. This initial development occupies about the first third of the book. The text next takes up partition and thermodynamic functions of an ideal gas, with discussions of electronic, vibrational, and rotational (including internal rotation) contributions in atomic, diatomic, and polyatomic gases. A separate chapter is devoted to symmetry effects on wave functions and states, and the use of symmetry numbers in evaluating partition functions. This is a topic often glossed over, and frequently mystifying, to students. Chemical equilibrium is next considered, followed by chapters on the perfect quantum gas and imperfect gases where various intermolecular potentials are compared. The treatment of polyatomic molecules in terms of rigid rotations and small bond vibrations is developed, followed by a consideration of the transition state theory of chemical kinetics. The final chapter considers models of the liquid state and liquid-vapor equilibria. Despite its conciseness, this text covers a great deal of interesting ground.

About the Author

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DONALD RAPP drdrapp@earthlink.net B.S. Chemical Engineering, Cooper Union, 1955 M.S. Chemical Engineering, Princeton, 1956 Graduate study, California Institute of Technology, 1957 Ph.D. Chemical Physics, University of California (Berkeley) - January, 1960 2009- On call as consultant to JPL 2003-2008, JPL Consultant through Contractors 1979-2002, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA; Senior Research Scientist and Division Chief Technologist, Mechanical Systems Engineering and Research Division 1969-1981, University of Texas at Dallas: 1973-1979 Full Professor 1965-1969, Polytechnic Institute of New York: Associate Professor of Chemistry 1959-1965, Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory: Senior Staff Scientist As professor of Physics at the University of Texas, I wrote textbooks on statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and solar energy. Amongst many other things, I was manager of the JPL Mars Exploration Technology Program for a period, and I was manager of the In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) task in this Program. I wrote a landmark report on ISRU on Mars. In 1997, I wrote proposals and brought in a program to JPL to carry out in situ experiments on the Mars 2001 Lander with a run-out cost of $2M. Over the period 1994-2001, I wrote a number of documents on Mars mission technology needs and prioritizing Mars-related technologies. I wrote the JPL Mars Technology Program Plan in 2001. More than 70 publications in refereed journals, plus numerous informal in-depth reports. Published Books: - Quantum Mechanics, 672 pages, published 1971 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston - Statistical Mechanics, 330 pages, published in 1972 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston - Solar Energy, 516 pages, published in 1981 by Prentice-Hall - Human Missions to Mars: Enabling Technologies for Exploring the Red Planet Springer/Praxis, October, 2007; 552 pages, two 8-page color sections - Assessing Climate Change - Temperatures, Solar Radiation and Heat Balance Series: Springer Praxis Books - Environmental Sciences 410 p. 130 illus., Hardcover, January, 2008 - Ice Ages and Interglacials, Springer/Praxis, 2009. - The Climate Debate 2012