Introductory Statistical Mechanics

by Roger Bowley, Mariana Sanchez

This book explains the ideas and techniques of statistical mechanics--the theory of condensed matter--in a simple and progressive way. The text begins with the laws of thermodynamics and the basic ideas of quantum mechanics. The conceptual ideas are then developed carefully, and the mathematical techniques are developed in parallel to give a coherent overall view. The text is illustrated with examples not just from solid state physics, but also from recent theories of radiation from black holes and recent data on the background radiation from the Cosmic Background Explorer. This second edition includes additional advanced material often found in undergraduate courses. It includes three new chapters on phase transitions at an appropriate level for an undergraduate student, and there are numerous exercises at the end of each chapter, along with brief model answers for the odd-numbered problems. It is a useful and practical textbook for undergraduates in physics and chemistry.

Genres: Physics, Science, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Mathematics, Reference

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 1996

Reviews

[Ali]

i want to read this book

[Kevin Montes]

I used this book for my undergraduate statistical mechanics class. Found it to be a bit too wordy and long-winded, and I also did not like the fact that important equations and concepts were not written in a way to stand out at all from the clutter. However, the text did include a lot of interesting discussion on the concepts and some good problems and solutions at the end of each chapter. Not sure how it compares to other statistical mechanics books, but compared to other similar texts I have used on mechanics and thermal physics I would say it is sub par