Table of Contents

1 Probability, Distributions, and Equilibrium
2 The Distribution of Energy
3 Energy Levels in Real Chemical Systems
4 Internal Energy (U) and the First Law
5 Bonding and Internal Energy
6 The Effect of Temperature on Equilibrium
7 Entropy (S) and the Second Law
8 The Effect of Pressure and Concentration on Entropy
9 Enthalpy (H) and the Surroundings
10 Gibbs Energy (G)
11 The Equilibrium Constant (K)
12 Applications of Gibbs Energy: Phase Changes
13 Applications of Gibbs Energy: Electrochemistry

APPENDIX A Symbols and Constants
APPENDIX B Mathematical Tricks
APPENDIX C Table of Standard Reduction Potentials
APPENDIX D Table of Standard Thermodynamic Data (25°C and 1 bar)
APPENDIX E Thermodynamic Data for the Evaporation of Liquid Water
Answers to Selected Exercises

About the Author

ROBERT HANSON is a Professor of Chemistry at St. Olaf College, in Northfield, Minnesota, USA, where he has been teaching since 1986. Trained as an organic chemist with Gilbert Stork at Columbia University, USA, he shares a patent with 2001 Nobel Prize winner K.Barry Sharpless for the asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols. His interest in thermodynamics goes back to early training at the California Institute of Technology, from which he got a B.S. degree in 1979.

SUSAN GREEN has had the privilege of being both a student and a professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, USA, where she was first introduced to the idea of teaching thermodynamics to first-year students. She trained as a physical chemist at the University of Minnesota, USA, studying the vibrational and electronic structure of small metal oxides as well as trying her hand at analytical chemistry.

Reviews

"Hanson and Green offer a very valuable work on molecular thermodynamics. Highly recommended."--Choice

"I am excited to see this material introduced in a first-year course. Statistics, as the driving force behind chemical equilibria and thermodynamics, is a profound concept that most students only get a taste of in physical chemistry. This book provides an excellent way to introduce these ideas at an early stage."--J. Matthew Hutchison, Swarthmore College

"Throughout, Introduction to Molecular Thermodynamics is a friendly and appealing book. There are not many textbooks that are a pleasure to read, and this is one of them. I would encourage its consideration for course adoption, even if you have to make up a new course."--J. Chem. Ed.