We have followed our usual tradition in that this new edition of the text is yet another
thorough update of the content and its presentation. Our goal is to keep the book
flexible to use, accessible to students, broad in scope, and authoritative, without
adding bulk. However, it should always be borne in mind that much of the bulk arises
from the numerous pedagogical features that we include (such as Worked examples,
Checklists of key equations, and the Resource section), not necessarily from density of
information.
The text is still divided into three parts, but material has been moved between chapters
and the chapters themselves have been reorganized. We continue to respond
to the cautious shift in emphasis away from classical thermodynamics by combining
several chapters in Part 1 (Equilibrium), bearing in mind that some of the material
will already have been covered in earlier courses. For example, material on phase
diagrams no longer has its own chapter but is now distributed between Chapters 4
(Physical transformation of pure substances) and 5 (Simple mixtures). New Impact sections
highlight the application of principles of thermodynamics to materials science,
an area of growing interest to chemists.
In Part 2 (Structure) the chapters have been updated with a discussion of contemporary
techniques of materials science—including nanoscience—and spectroscopy.
We have also paid more attention to computational chemistry, and have revised the
coverage of this topic in Chapter 10.
Part 3 has lost chapters dedicated to kinetics of complex reactions and surface processes,
but not the material, which we regard as highly important in a contemporary
context. To make the material more readily accessible within the context of courses,
descriptions of polymerization, photochemistry, and enzyme- and surface-catalysed
reactions are now part of Chapters 21 (The rates of chemical reactions) and 22
(Reaction dynamics)—already familiar to readers of the text—and a new chapter,
Chapter 23, on Catalysis.
We have discarded the Appendices of earlier editions. Material on mathematics
covered in the appendices is now dispersed through the text in the form of
Mathematical background sections, which review and expand knowledge of mathematical
techniques where they are needed in the text. The review of introductory
chemistry and physics, done in earlier editions in appendices, will now be found in
a new Fundamentals chapter that opens the text, and particular points are developed
as Brief comments or as part of Further information sections throughout the text. By
liberating these topics from their appendices and relaxing the style of presentation we
believe they are more likely to be used and read.
The vigorous discussion in the physical chemistry community about the choice of
a ‘quantum first’ or a ‘thermodynamics first’ approach continues. In response we have
paid particular attention to making the organization flexible. The strategic aim of this
revision is to make it possible to work through the text in a variety of orders and at the
end of this Preface we once again include two suggested paths through the text. For
those who require a more thorough-going ‘quantum first’ approach we draw attention
to our Quanta, matter, and change (with Ron Friedman) which covers similar
material to this text in a similar style but, because of the different approach, adopts a
different philosophy.
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