Author: Thomas Fairchild Sherman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190695358
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
A fresh and unified exploration of the laws that govern natural change, examining the historical roots and meaning of the concepts of energy and entropy. All natural processes--mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, and biological--are viewed as a flow across free energy gradients that interact with one another.
Author: Eric D. Schneider
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226739368
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 382
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Book Description
The authors look to the laws of thermodynamics for answers to the questions of evolution, ecology, economics, and even life's origin.
Author: Thomas F. Sherman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190695366
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
Energy, Entropy, and the Flow of Nature presents the essential principles of energetics (thermodynamics) in a straight-forward, easy to understand, and logically-consistent manner. As a student of physical chemistry and as a professor and researcher in biochemistry, physiology, and general biology, the author has seen the problems that arise for students, teachers, and researchers in mastering the laws of thermodynamics. These difficulties can be alleviated by a careful consideration of the historical roots of the ideas involved, and by recognizing that all natural change can be understood as a flow across a gradient of some kind. Part of the effect of every flow is to diminish its own gradient, but the decrease of one gradient can drive an increase in another. The book's mission is to build a solid understanding of the fundamental concepts of energetics and a confidence in going forth into the many areas that the study of energy opens up. In their applications, the laws of energy and entropy can often involve highly challenging problems and calculations, but the fundamental concepts addressed in this book are easy to understand and require relatively little mathematics.
Author: Axel Kleidon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316558592
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 397
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Book Description
Thermodynamics sets fundamental laws for all physical processes and is central to driving and maintaining planetary dynamics. But how do Earth system processes perform work, where do they derive energy from, and what are the limits? This accessible book describes how the laws of thermodynamics apply to Earth system processes, from solar radiation to motion, geochemical cycling and biotic activity. It presents a novel view of the thermodynamic Earth system explaining how it functions and evolves, how different forms of disequilibrium are being maintained, and how evolutionary trends can be interpreted as thermodynamic trends. It also offers an original perspective on human activity, formulating this in terms of a thermodynamic, Earth system process. This book uses simple conceptual models and basic mathematical treatments to illustrate the application of thermodynamics to Earth system processes, making it ideal for researchers and graduate students across a range of Earth and environmental science disciplines.
Author: Adrian Bejan
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307744345
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan takes the recurring patterns in nature—trees, tributaries, air passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts—and reveals how a single principle of physics, the constructal law, accounts for the evolution of these and many other designs in our world. Everything—from biological life to inanimate systems—generates shape and structure and evolves in a sequence of ever-improving designs in order to facilitate flow. River basins, cardiovascular systems, and bolts of lightning are very efficient flow systems to move a current—of water, blood, or electricity. Likewise, the more complex architecture of animals evolve to cover greater distance per unit of useful energy, or increase their flow across the land. Such designs also appear in human organizations, like the hierarchical “flowcharts” or reporting structures in corporations and political bodies. All are governed by the same principle, known as the constructal law, and configure and reconfigure themselves over time to flow more efficiently. Written in an easy style that achieves clarity without sacrificing complexity, Design in Nature is a paradigm-shifting book that will fundamentally transform our understanding of the world around us.
Author: Matthias Ruth
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401718997
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 255
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Book Description
Economies are open systems embedded in an ecosystem with which they exchange matter and energy. Interactions among these systems are vital for each system's performance and are constrained by the laws of physics. This volume pays tribute to economy--environment interactions simultaneously from an economic, ecological and physical perspective. Integrating Economics, Ecology and Thermodynamics provides a first step in identifying and combining the principles of economics, ecology and thermodynamics on a fundamental level. Part I lays out the general context for the approach chosen. Part II familiarizes readers with core concepts of, and methods used in, the three disciplines of economics, ecology and thermodynamics. Part III assesses ways in which these disciplines can be integrated to provide an improved understanding of economy--environment interactions. Part IV illustrates the integration of the three disciplines with a dynamic model of a human community interacting with its environment. In Part V the volume closes with a brief summary and a set of conclusions on the relevance of integrated, interdisciplinary approaches to economy--environment interactions.
Author: J. S. Dugdale
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1482272865
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209
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Book Description
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.
Author: Axel Kleidon
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9783540224952
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
The present volume studies the application of concepts from non-equilibrium thermodynamics to a variety of research topics. Emphasis is on the Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) principle and applications to Geosphere-Biosphere couplings. Written by leading researchers from a wide range of backgrounds, the book presents a first coherent account of an emerging field at the interface of thermodynamics, geophysics and life sciences.
Author: Achintya Kumar Pramanick
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3642544711
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 171
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Book Description
In this monograph Prof. Pramanick explicates the law of motive force, a fundamental law of nature that can be observed and appreciated as an addition to the existing laws of thermodynamics. This unmistakable and remarkable tendency of nature is equally applicable to all other branches of studies. He first conceptualized the law of motive force in 1989, when he was an undergraduate student. Here he reports various applications of the law in the area of thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics and solid mechanics, and shows how it is possible to solve analytically century-old unsolved problems through its application. This book offers a comprehensive account of the law and its relation to other laws and principles, such as the generalized conservation principle, variational formulation, Fermat’s principle, Bejan’s constructal law, entropy generation minimization, Bejan’s method of intersecting asymptotes and equipartition principle. Furthermore, the author addresses some interrelated fundamental problems of contemporary interest, especially to thermodynamicists, by combining analytical methods, physical reasoning and the proposed law of motive force. This foundational work is a valuable reading for both students and researchers in exact as well as non-exact sciences and, at the same time, a pleasant learning experience for the novice.
Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192562894
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
Quantum mechanics is an extraordinarily successful scientific theory. But it is also completely mad. Although the theory quite obviously works, it leaves us chasing ghosts and phantoms; particles that are waves and waves that are particles; cats that are at once both alive and dead; lots of seemingly spooky goings-on; and a desperate desire to lie down quietly in a darkened room. The Quantum Cookbook explains why this is. It provides a unique bridge between popular exposition and formal textbook presentation, written for curious readers with some background in physics and sufficient mathematical capability. It aims not to teach readers how to do quantum mechanics but rather helps them to understand how to think about quantum mechanics. Each derivation is presented as a 'recipe' with listed ingredients, including standard results from the mathematician's toolkit, set out in a series of easy-to-follow steps. The recipes have been written sympathetically, for readers who - like the author - will often struggle to follow the logic of a derivation which misses out steps that are 'obvious', or which use techniques that readers are assumed to know.
