Warmth Disperses and Time Passes: The History of Heat (Modern Library Paperbacks) |
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Warmth Disperses and Time Passes: The History of Heat (Modern Library Paperbacks)
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by Hans Christian Von Baeyer
Sales Rank: 489340
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List Price: $15.00
$13.50
At Amazon
on 6-17-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 240 pages
Published by: Modern Library June 15, 1999
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0375753729
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0375753725
Book Dimensions:
8.3 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
Weighs: 6.4 ounces
Product Review
Warmth Disperses and Time Passes deals with, among other things, "Maxwell's Demon," a metaphorical device invented by James Clerk Maxwell a century and a half ago in an attempt to expose flaws in the second law of thermodynamics. This imaginary demon would sit between two flasks of air and allow only warm air molecules to enter the warmer flask. This would cause heat to flow uphill--a death knell for the second law if it were possible. Only it wasn't; it was the death knell for the demon instead. Successive "improved" demons were invented by later physicists, but all have subsequently been killed. The realization that a live demon is impossible has served to further strengthen the second law.
Hans von Baeyer is almost as much historian as scientist. As he walks us through the evolution of scientific understanding of thermodynamics, he stops to dwell on the intellectual and societal framework that allowed the physicists of the time to make their respective scientific leaps. This blend of science and history, combined with von Baeyer's journalistic approach, creates a book that is both exceedingly accessible and surprisingly illuminating. --Eric Warner
Product Review
"Hans von Baeyer's writing style is so compelling that it would induce even the most scientifically naïve reader to care about the laws of thermodynamics."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Professor von Baeyer is a prime candidate for best wordsmith among popularizers of physics, composing prose that is elegant, economical and, above all, civilized."--Physics Today
"Hans von Baeyer uses common sense and familiar observations as a tool for exploring deep scientific principles."--Library Journal, Best Sci-Tech Books of 1998
"Hans Christian von Baeyer has published a highly readable, highly humanized account of the second law of thermodynamics. He gives what could be an abstract and difficult discussion a profoundly human tone."--The Boston Globe
Reader Reviews
This is an enjoyable history of thermodynamics. Maxwell's Demon does not actually come into it until about half-way through, and then becomes, gradually, the focus. Von Baeyer's approach is to advance his topic short chapter by short chapter. Each chapter treats the work of a man (alas, in science women have not, until recently, played much of a part) as it relates to the growing knowledge of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The ideas, the experiments, the intellectual milieu, and the subject's life are all fair game in these little essays, and all are treated in a clear, serious, but still light-hearted way. The writing is very pleasing, the author's humane, humorous and cultured personality shines through. The point of the book, of course, is to explore the Second Law of Thermodynamics, using the Demon invented by the physicist Maxwell. It has proved a remarkably troublesome sprite in spite of all the attempts to exorcise it over the years. Here you will learn some thermodynamics and some history, and when you are done you will have a general idea of the issues swirling around the notion of entropy. After reading this book, you very well might want to get your feet wet in an introductory text on thermodynamics, now that you know some of the issues in play. Or, if you already know some, this will fill in the human background, and may alert you to some current thinking. One of the current issues is the relationship between the entropy from Information Theory and the entropy from Thermodynamics. As various folks keep trying to conflate them, our author reports on it. The discussion is detailed enough to actually convey some of the ideas that trouble modern researchers, and tantalizing enough to make the reader want to know even more. What else could one want from a popular book on the subject?
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Warmth Disperses and Time Passes: The History of Heat (Modern Library Paperbacks)
Available from Amazon
Price: $13.50
Updated on 6-17-2008.
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