This book presents new and updated developments in the molecular theory of mixtures and solutions. It is based on the theory of Kirkwood and Buff which was published more than fifty years ago. This theory has been dormant for almost two decades. It has recently become a very powerful and general tool to analyze, study and understand any type of mixtures from the molecular, or the microscopic point of view. The traditional approach to mixture has been, for many years, based on the study of excess thermodynamic quantities. This provides a kind of global information on the system. The new...

Features a two-pronged message: first, that the Second Law of Thermodynamics is not "infinitely incomprehensible" as commonly stated in textbooks of thermodynamics but can be comprehended through common sense; and second, that entropy is not a mysterious quantity that has "resisted understanding" but a familiar and easily comprehensible concept.

In this unique book, Arieh Ben-Naim invites the reader to experience the joy of appreciating something which has eluded understanding for many years - entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The book has a two-pronged message: first, that the Second Law is not "infinitely incomprehensible" as commonly stated in textbooks of thermodynamics but can, in fact, be comprehended through sheer common sense; and second, that entropy is not a mysterious quantity that has "resisted understanding" but a simple, familiar and easily comprehensible concept. Written in an accessible style, the book...