The Newman Lectures on Thermodynamics

Prof. Newman is considered one of the great chemical engineers of his time. His reputation derives from his mastery of all phases of the subject matter, his clarity of thought, and his ability to reduce complex problems to their essential core elements. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC, USA, and has won numerous national awards including every award offered by the Electrochemical Society, USA. His motto, as known by his colleagues, is "do it right the first time." He has been teaching undergraduate and graduate core subject courses at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), USA, since joining the faculty in 1966. His method is to write out, in long form, everything he expects to convey to his class on a subject on any given day. He has maintained and updated his lecture notes from notepad to computer throughout his career. This book is an exact reproduction of those notes.

This book presents concepts needed to define single- and multi-component systems, starting with the Gibbs function. It helps readers derive concepts of entropy and temperature and the development of material properties of pure substances. It acquaints them with applications of thermodynamics, such as cycles, open systems, and phase transitions, and eventually leads them to concepts of multiple-component systems, in particular, chemical equilibria and phase equilibria. It covers topics such as the interconversion of mechanical and thermal energy, processes involving compression of gases, the Carnot and practical refrigeration cycles, the liquefaction of gases, Joule–Kelvin expansion, Amagat’s law, Dalton’s law, the virial equation, Redlich–Kwong and van der Waals equation of state, Gibbs’ phase rule, Gibbs’ mixing rule, fugacity coefficient, and activity coefficient and discusses a multitude of examples of different systems at work. It clearly presents all concepts that are necessary for engineers.

John S. Newman is Charles W. Tobias Chair of Electrochemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), USA. Before joining UC Berkeley, he was a senior scientist and principal investigator at the Energy Technologies Area (ETA), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA. He received his BS degree from Northwestern University, Illinois, USA, and MS degree and PhD from UC Berkeley. He has been a recipient of the Onsager Professorship, 2002, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. His current research focus is on analysis and design of electrochemical systems, with batteries and fuel cells receiving the most attention. He is the author of over 300 technical publications, numerous plenary and invited lectures, and the book Electrochemical Systems.

Vincent S. Battaglia is a research scientist and group lead of Energy Storage and Distributed Resources Division of ETA. He received his BS degree in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, and his MS degree and PhD in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley. He joined Argonne National Laboratory, Washington, DC, as a postdoctoral fellow and was later appointed as a chemical engineer, then technical coordinator for DOC PNGV office and coordinator of DOE VTO Battery Research there. He specializes in electrochemical energy storage and conversion and has received the Pacesetter Award from Argonne National Laboratory, the DOE R&D Award, the 2013 R&D 100 Award, and the FMC Corporation external research collaboration award.