Thermodynamics

I. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES.- 1. The macroscopic observer.- 2. The concept of empirical temperature.- 3. The first Principle of Thermodynamics.- 4. The second Principle of Thermodynamics.- 5. Efficiency of thermal engines.- 6. The Fundamental Relation and the thermodynamic potentials.- 7. Maxwell Relations.- II. APPLICATIONS.- 8. One component Systems.- 9. van der Waals equation.- 10.Phase transitions.- 11.Surface Systems.- 12.Electrostatic Fields.- 13.Magnetic Fields.- 4.Thermodynamics of radiation.- 15.Osmotic phenomena and complex fluids.- 16.Low temperatures.- III. IRREVERSIBLE PROCESSES.- 17.Irreversible processes.- 18.Thermodynamics of continua.- IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY.- Bibliography.- V. ANALYTICAL LIST.- VI. APPENDIXES.- A. Appendix 1. Two useful mathematical relations.- B. Appendix 2. The pressure exerted by a particle gas.- C. Appendix 3. M. Planck and the problem of black-body radiation.- D. Appendix 4. Thermodynamics and Information.

Rossella Faraldo is Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the "C. Roccati" Lyceum in Rovigo (Italy). She holds a doctoral degree in Physics and until 2015 was an associated researcher in the Section of Theoretical Physics, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and the Physics Department of Padua University. Her main interests are Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Foundations of Physics, and Methodology of Didactics, and for several years she has been a lecturer on the course in Methodology and Didactics of Physics in the Faculty of Sciences at Padua University. Dr. Faraldo is the author or co-author of a number of articles on the Foundations of Science. She has contributed to a book on Causality published by Oxford University Press and to the proceedings of the Italian Physical Society and has also written various articles for Enciclopedia Italiana. She is co-author of (2010) Spazio, Tempo e Spazio-Tempo in un Ambiente di Apprendimento (Cortina, Padova 2010).

Antonio Saggion was Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences, Padua University (Italy) from 1980 until 2012. He has vast teaching experience in various fields of Classical Physics and Astrophysics, and in particular was Professor of Thermodynamics from 1969 to 1992 and from 2000 to 2016. Between 2000 and 2012 Dr. Saggion was Director of the School for the Methodology and Didactics of Physics in the Faculty of Sciences, Padua University. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) since 1970 and is a founder and member of the MAGIC Collaboration. His main interests are Theoretical Astrophysics, Very High Energy Gamma Ray Astrophysics, Epistemology, and the Foundations of Physics. He is the author or co-author of books on Classical Mechanics and Thermodynamics and on didactic methodology. In the field of astrophysical research he has authored more than 140 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and he has also contributed to the