A Textbook of Physical Chemistry

Book excerpt: A Textbook of Physical Chemistry, Second Edition serves as an introductory text to physical chemistry. Topics covered range from wave mechanics and chemical bonding to molecular spectroscopy and photochemistry; ideal and nonideal gases; the three laws of thermodynamics; thermochemistry; and solutions of nonelectrolytes. The kinetics of gas-phase reactions; colloids and macromolecules; and nuclear chemistry and radiochemistry are also discussed. This edition is comprised of 22 chapters; the first of which introduces the reader to the behavior of ideal and nonideal gases, with particular emphasis on the van der Waals equation. The discussion then turns to the kinetic molecular theory of gases and the application of the Boltzmann principle to the treatment of molar polarization; dipole and magnetic moments; the phenomenology of light absorption; and classical and statistical thermodynamics. The chapters that follow focus on the traditional sequence of chemical and phase equilibria, electrochemistry, and chemical kinetics in gas phase and solution phase. This book also considers wave mechanics and its applications; molecular spectroscopy and photochemistry; and the excited state, and then concludes with an analysis of crystal structure, colloid and polymer chemistry, and radio and nuclear chemistry. This reference material is intended primarily as an introductory text for students of physical chemistry.