With the present emphasis on nano and bio technologies, molecular level descriptions and understandings offered by statistical mechanics are of increasing interest and importance. This text emphasizes how statistical thermodynamics is and can be used by chemical engineers and physical chemists. The text shows readers the path from molecular level approximations to the applied, macroscopic thermodynamic models engineers use, and introduces them to molecular-level computer simulation.

Readers of this book will develop an appreciation for the beauty and utility of statistical mechanics.

STANLEY I. SANDLER is the H. B. du Pont Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware as well as professor of chemistry and biochemistry. He is also the founding director of its Center for Molecular and Engineering Thermodynamics. In addition to this book, Sandler is the author of 235 research papers and a monograph, and is the editor of a book on thermodynamic modeling and five conference proceedings. He earned his B.Ch.E. degree in 1962 from the City College of New York, and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1966.