A Non-Traditional Guide to Physical Chemistry

I. Toward science

1. Farewell to Alchemy - Paracelsus

2. Fruitful doubts - Boyle 3. The birth of physical chemistry - Lavoisier



4. The balloon

Some further reading to Part I

II. Between chemistry and physics


5. The well-chosen unit of mass 6. Atoms counted and weighed



7. The ideal of a gas

8. The reality of gases - from gas to liquid

9. The science of possibilities - thermodynamics

10. Pressure and temperature - inside 11. Predictions on molar heat



12. New physics?

13. Things lost, conserved and born

14. Rule and exception

15. On molar heat - once more 16. The hydrogen atom - is something revolving and spinning?



17. Atoms - electrons are unaccommodating

18. The hydrogen molecule - to have some elbow room

19. Different kinds of the hydrogen molecule?

20. Different kinds of hydrogen atom? 21. Water



Some further reading to Part II

III. Which way and how fast


22. Hydrogen and fertilizer

23. The double arrow - chemical equilibrium

24. Time counts - rates of the changes

25. Real processes are rarely simple

26. How to produce ammonia

Some further reading to Part III

IV. Chemistry of the outer space


Some further reading to Part IV

V. Hydrogen and energy


27. Some questions about near-future energetics

28. Direct storage of electric energy

29. Hydrogen energetics

30. Hydrogen production in the future continuous tense

31. Sunlight and hydrogen

32. Hydrogen storage in solids

Some further reading to Part V

Conclusions

Robert  Schiller (1935), born in Budapest, Hungary, graduated from R. Eötvös University, Budapest, in 1958 and completed his PhD in 1966 and DSc in 1974. He is a titular professor at R. Eötvös University and Dr. habil Privatdozent at Budapest Technical University. After completing his studies, Professor Schiller joined the Chemistry Department of the Central Research Institute for Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he is now a Research Professor Emeritus. Having worked at several laboratories abroad, he e.g. spent a full year at the Paterson Laboratories, Manchester, UK. His main research interests are in radiation chemistry, electrochemistry and the theory of transport processes. Currently, he is investigating the effects of fast ions on metals. He has taught courses on radiation chemistry and statistical mechanics at R.  Eötvös University and has published several textbooks in these areas. Apart from his research papers, Professor Schiller has also written books and a number of essays popularizing science. He was awarded the Wigner Prize by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2001 and was voted the popular science author for the year 2012, and asteroid no.196005 was named Robertschiller in his honour.