Page 7 - Modern physical chemistry

Preface

and

Acknowledgments

This book has been designed for chemistry and chemical physics majors in their junior
or senior years. However, advanced students and students in related fields may also find
it useful as a reference. A student using the text should be familiar with basic general
chemistry, some analytic chemistry, elementary calculus, and calculus-level general
physics.
Its style is simple, concise, and straightforward. Concepts are not hidden in a bliz-
zard of words. Mathematics is employed slowly and carefully as a tool.
General principles are shown to rest on certain key experimental results. In express-
ing relationships mathematically, the text is as detailed as is expedient. With respect to
problems, the text includes many worked-out examples. And where helpful, the expla-
nations are couched in terms of what atoms and molecules are present and what they
are doing.
Topics are arranged in a progressive pattern. Simpler theory and examples are con-
sidered first; more complicated theory and applications later. More information on the
various topics and, in many cases, alternate developments may be found in the references.
I wish to acknowledge my debt to my predecessors and to my students. Our present
knowledge of physical chemistry is the product of many hands and minds. Various arti-
cles in the Journal of Chemical Education and The American Journal of Physics have
been particularly helpful. These are cited in the reference sections. I want to thank Prof.
Orin Quist for his encouragement and help. Also, Corey Halstead, for keyboarding the
equations. And finally, the staffs at The Solomon Press and Jonah Shaw have been most
helpful.

- George H. DuJJey
April 1999

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