Ebook: Physical Chemistry: Thermodynamics, Structure, and Change

From the author (PA):

This new edition is the product of a thorough revision of
content and its presentation. Our goal is to make the book
even more accessible to students and useful to instructors by
enhancing its flexibility. We hope that both categories of user
will perceive and enjoy the renewed vitality of the text and the
presentation of this demanding but engaging subject.

The text is still divided into three parts, but each chapter is
now presented as a series of short and more readily mastered
Topics. This new structure allows the instructor to tailor the text
within the time constraints of the course as omissions will be
easier to make, emphases satisfied more readily, and the trajectory
through the subject modified more easily. For instance,
it is now easier to approach the material either from a ‘quantum
first’ or a ‘thermodynamics first’ perspective because it
is no longer necessary to take a linear path through chapters.
Instead, students and instructors can match the choice of
Topics to their learning objectives. We have been very careful
not to presuppose or impose a particular sequence, except
where it is demanded by common sense.

We open with a Foundations chapter, which reviews basic
concepts of chemistry and physics used through the text. Part
1 now carries the title Thermodynamics. New to this edition is
coverage of ternary phase diagrams, which are important in
applications of physical chemistry to engineering and materials
science. Part 2 (Structure) continues to cover quantum theory,
atomic and molecular structure, spectroscopy, molecular
assemblies, and statistical thermodynamics. Part 3 (Change)
has lost a chapter dedicated to catalysis, but not the material.
Enzyme-catalysed reactions are now in Chapter 20, and heterogeneous
catalysis is now part of a new Chapter 22 focused on
surface structure and processes.

As always, we have paid special attention to helping students
navigate and master this material. Each chapter opens with a
brief summary of its Topics. Then each Topic begins with three
questions: ‘Why do you need to know this material?’, ‘What is
the key idea?’, and ‘What do you need to know already?’. The
answers to the third question point to other Topics that we consider
appropriate to have studied or at least to refer to as background
to the current Topic. The Checklists at the end of each
Topic are useful distillations of the most important concepts
and equations that appear in the exposition.

We continue to develop strategies to make mathematics,
which is so central to the development of physical chemistry,
accessible to students. In addition to associating Mathematical
background sections with appropriate chapters, we give more
help with the development of equations: we motivate them,
justify them, and comment on the steps taken to derive them.
We also added a new feature: The chemist’s toolkit, which offers
quick and immediate help on a concept from mathematics or
physics.

This edition has more worked Examples, which require
students to organize their thoughts about how to proceed
with complex calculations, and more Brief illustrations,
which show how to use an equation or deploy a concept in
a straightforward way. Both have Self-tests to enable students
to assess their grasp of the material. We have structured the
end-of-chapter Discussion questions, Exercises, and Problems
to match the grouping of the Topics, but have added Topicand
Chapter-crossing Integrated activities to show that several
Topics are often necessary to solve a single problem. The
Resource section has been restructured and augmented by the
addition of a list of integrals that are used (and referred to)
throughout the text.

We are, of course, alert to the development of electronic
resources and have made a special effort in this edition to
encourage the use of web-based tools, which are identified in
the Using the book section that follows this preface. Important
among these tools are Impact sections, which provide examples
of how the material in the chapters is applied in such diverse
areas as biochemistry, medicine, environmental science, and
materials science.

Overall, we have taken this opportunity to refresh the text
thoroughly, making it even more flexible, helpful, and up to
date. As ever, we hope that you will contact us with your suggestions
for its continued improvement.