This unique overview by a prominent CalTech physicist provides a modern, rigorous, and integrated treatment of the key physical principles and techniques related to gases, liquids, solids, and their phase transitions. No other single volume offers such comprehensive coverage of the subject, and the treatment consistently emphasizes areas in which research results are likely to be applicable to other disciples.Starting with a chapter on thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, the text proceeds to in-depth discussions of perfect gases, electrons in metals, Bose condensation, fluid structure, potential energy, Weiss molecular field theory, van der Waals equation, and other pertinent aspects of phase transitions. Many helpful illustrative problems appear at the end of each chapter, and annotated bibliographies offer further guidance.

Preface1. Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics 1.1 Introduction: Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics of the Perfect Gas 1.2 Thermodynamics 1.3 Statistical Mechanics 1.4 Remarks on the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics2. Perfect Gases 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The Ideal Gas 2.3 Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac Statistics 2.4 Slightly Degenerate Perfect Gases 2.5 The Very Degenerate Fermi Gas: Electrons in Metals 2.6 The Bose Condensation: A First Order Phase Transition3. Solids 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The Heat Capacity Dilemma 3.3 Normal Modes 3.4 Crystal Structures 3.5 Crystal Space: Phonons, Photons, and the Reciprocal Lattice 3.6 Electrons in Crystals4. Liquids and Interacting Gases 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The Structure of a Fluid 4.3 The Potential Energy 4.4 Interacting Gases 4.5 Liquids5. Some Special States 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Superfluidity 5.3 Superconductivity 5.4 Magnetism6. Critical Phenomena and Phase Transitions 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Weiss Molecular Field Theory 6.3 The van der Waals Equation of State 6.4 Analogies Between Phase Transitions 6.5 The Generalized Theory 6.6 Critical Point Exponents 6.7 Scaling Laws: Physics Discovers Dimensional Analysis 6.8 Evaluation and Summary: Testing the Scaling LawsIndex