Amazon.com description: Product Description: This thermodynamics text is specifically designed for students on a first course in thermodynamics on a materials science or related degree. Treatment is general, and the book could also be used on chemistry, physics and engineering courses. It adopts an approach based upon a general criterion for equilibrium (developed directly from the law of thermodynamics), which yields a general strategy for obtaining conditions for equilibrium. This strategy is applied to a collection of systems of increasing complexity and sophistication to derive in each case the conditions for equilibrium - working equations for solving practical problems in thermodynamics are shown to be restatements of these equilibrium conditions. The level of discussion is rigorous, but no steps are ommited in establishing the conclusions. This provides the student with the knowledge to handle the thermodynamics of the most complex kinds of systems; in addition, the presentation applies to all classes of materials including applications to ceramics, metals, polymers and electronic materials. A solutions manual is also available (0-07-016314-6).