Kinetic Theory of Gases

by Brush, Stephen G.; Hall, Nancy S.

• ISBN13: 9781860943478
• ISBN10: 1860943470
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Imperial College Pr

Summary

This book introduces physics students and teachers to the historical development of the kinetic theory of gases, by providing a collection of the most important contributions by Clausius, Maxwell and Boltzmann, with introductory surveys explaining their significance. In addition, extracts from the works of Boyle, Newton, Mayer, Joule, Helmholtz, Kelvin and others show the historical context of ideas about gases, energy and irreversibility. In addition to five thematic essays connecting the classical kinetic theory with 20th century topics such as indeterminism and interatomic forces, there is an extensive international bibliography of historical commentaries on kinetic theory, thermodynamics, etc. published in the past four decades.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
The Nature of Gases and of Heat
The Spring of the Air	p. 43
The Repulsion Theory	p. 52
On the Properties and Motions of Elastic Fluids, especially Air	p. 57
The Existence of Fire	p. 66
The Forces of Inorganic Nature	p. 71
On Matter, Living Force, and Heat	p. 78
The Conservation of Force	p. 89
The Nature of the Motion which We Call Heat	p. 111
On the Mean Length of the Paths Described by the Separate Molecules of Gaseous Bodies	p. 135
Illustrations of the Dynamical Theory of Gases	p. 148
On a Mechanical Theorem Applicable to Heat	p. 172
Irreversible Processes
On the Dynamical Theory of Gases	p. 197
Further Studies on the Thermal Equilibrium of Gas Molecules	p. 262
The Kinetic Theory of the Dissipation of Energy	p. 350
On the Relation of a General Mechanical Theorem to the Second Law of Thermodynamics	p. 362
On the Three-body Problem and the Equations of Dynamics	p. 368
Mechanism and Experience	p. 377
On a Theorem of Dynamics and the Mechanical Theory of Heat	p. 382
Reply to Zermelo's Remarks on the Theory of Heat	p. 392
On the Mechanical Explanation of Irreversible Processes	p. 403
On Zermelo's Paper "On the Mechanical Explanation of Irreversible	p. 412
Historical Discussions
Gadflies and Geniuses in the History of Gas Theory	p. 421
Interatomic Forces and Gas Theory from Newton to Lennard-Jones	p. 451
Irreversibility and Indeterminism: Fourier to Heisenberg	p. 480
Proof of the Impossibility of Ergodic Systems: the 1913 Papers of Rosenthal and Plancherel	p. 505
Statistical Mechanics and the Philosophy of Science: Some Historical Notes	p. 524
A Guide to Historical Commentaries: Kinetic Theory of Gases, Thermodynamics, and Related Topics	p. 555
Index to Parts I, II, III	p. 637
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.