Categories
•Contemporary Alarm Clocks
•Big Ben Alarm Clock
•Radio Controlled Alarm Clocks
•Extra Loud Alarm Clock
•Clocky The Alarm Clock
•Smartset Alarm Clock Radio
•Loud Vibrating Alarm Clock
•Timex Travel Alarm Clocks
•Pink Radio Alarm Clock
•Silent Alarm Clocks
•Sharp Alarm Clocks

Four Laws That Drive the Universe

Four Laws That Drive the UniverseAuthor: Peter Atkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book

List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $11.33
as of 9/5/2010 06:20 CDT details
You Save: $8.62 (43%)
In Stock


Seller: ---superbookdeals
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars reviews
Sales Rank: 31,950

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 128
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.8

ISBN: 0199232369
Dewey Decimal Number: 536.71
EAN: 9780199232369
ASIN: 0199232369

Publication Date: September 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Features:
  • ISBN13: 9780199232369
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
The laws of thermodynamics drive everything that happens in the universe. From the sudden expansion of a cloud of gas to the cooling of hot metal, and from the unfurling of a leaf to the course of life itself--everything is moved or restrained by four simple laws. They establish fundamental concepts such as temperature and heat, and reveal the arrow of time and even the nature of energy itself.
Written by Peter Atkins, one of the worlds leading authorities on thermodynamics, this powerful and compact introduction explains what these four laws are and how they work, using accessible language and virtually no mathematics. Guiding the reader a step at a time, Atkins begins with Zeroth (so named because the first two laws were well established before scientists realized that a third law, relating to temperature, should precede them--hence the jocular name zeroth), and proceeds through the First, Second, and Third Laws, offering a clear account of concepts such as the availability of work and the conservation of energy. Atkins ranges from the fascinating theory of entropy (revealing how its unstoppable rise constitutes the engine of the universe), through the concept of free energy, and to the brink, and then beyond the brink, of absolute zero.
C.P. Snow once remarked that not knowing the second law of thermodynamics is like never having read a work by Shakespeare. This brief but brilliant book introduces general readers to one of the cornerstones of modern science, four laws that are as integral to the well-educated mind as such great dramatic works as Hamlet or Macbeth.

Customer Reviews:
1 2 Next »



5 out of 5 stars Elegant, Accessible and Charming   October 31, 2007
G. Poirier (Orleans, ON, Canada)
46 out of 48 found this review helpful

This little book (124 pages of main text) contains an absolute gold mine of information on thermodynamics. With a minimum amount of mathematics, this captivating field is extremely well summarized and presented in a most elegant prose. Very little space is devoted to historical background, resulting in a book that is dense with scientific detail. As with most such books, some parts are a bit tough going and may need to be read more than once (as I did) for the points presented to better sink in. The author is truly gifted in explaining potentially difficult concepts, rendering them lucid, well-described and even quite exciting. Many practical examples are presented to illustrate the application of many (what many would call) very abstract concepts. Because of the very technical quantitative nature of its contents, I believe that this charming book can best be enjoyed by serious science buffs, by university students who would like an excellent complement to their main thermodynamics texts, and by scientists who would like a refresher on a subject that they loved in university but may never have used since.


5 out of 5 stars A science gem   December 3, 2007
J. Price (New England)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful

This little book is a gem - concise, bright, and (very) valuable. It is a model of what serious science or technical writing intended for a wide audience should be. Concepts are introduced deliberately, with adequate explanation and lucid examples. There is just enough math to make you want more. I am going to take a guess that a part of the reason this book is so satisfying is that Atkins, unlike some of his famous peers, had a reader in mind as he puts the words down on paper.

Atkins makes classical thermodynamics intelligible and interesting. I only wish that this little book had been around when I was trying to learn these concepts in college.




5 out of 5 stars Great Book For The Non-Scientist   October 25, 2007
Oliver P. Cornell (Granite Bay, California United States)
21 out of 25 found this review helpful

If you want to understand the laws of thermodynamics and willing to put some effort into it, then this is the book for you. Every culturally literate individual needs to know about this subject area. Peter Atkins has been writing in this area for a long time, so he really does know of what he writes. It's a little book; very easy to carry around and re-read as time permits.


5 out of 5 stars Scientific literacy presented.   January 27, 2008
Wojciech Langer (Toronto, Ontario)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

Let me quote Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington here:
"The law that entropy always increase..(lots about it in Atkins book)..-the second law of thermodynamics - HOLDS, I think, the supreme position among the Laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations - then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observers - well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics, I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation".

Professor Atkins delivers short but kaleidoscopic and effective lecture just about above mentioned conviction. Lecture will be useful for many - students as well as for readers who left school long time ago (this is me) but like to get into popular cosmology/physics books with clear understanding of the most important topic in science - thermodynamics.
It is worth to mention briefly here, that the original formulation of the second law is not the ultimate truth. This book teaches only about classical thermodynamics, where actually systems are in equilibrium (nothing changes). Professor Atkins admits it in Conclusion at the end. But there is also non-equilibrium, linear thermodynamics that applies to things moving towards equilibrium (dissipative processes like thermodiffusion) and the fourth thermodynamics law (called "reciprocal relations") as a corollary of it. John Gribbin sheds some light on it in his fascinating and highly recommended popular-science new book : "Deep Simplicity - Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity".


5 out of 5 stars Four laws that drive the universe   February 18, 2008
J. Ponte
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

This book is clearly written, presenting the zeroth law, first law, second law and third law of thermodynamics taking the mystery out of the usual presentations of this subject.
Professor Atkins presents the thermodynamic laws starting with comparisons with mechanical systems that most people would understand and builds upon that for an easily understood treatise on the subject matter.

1 2 Next »



CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
.
t