Thermal properties of matter / Joe Khachan.

1. Introduction -- 2. Thermal properties of materials and temperature measurement -- 2.1. Temperature and heat -- 2.2. Thermal equilibrium -- 2.3. Absolute temperature scale -- 2.4. Thermal expansion

3. Heat transfer through conduction, convection, and radiation -- 3.1. Heat conduction -- 3.2. Convection -- 3.3. Radiation

4. Heat capacity, specific heat, and heat of transformation -- 4.1. Heat capacity and specific heat -- 4.2. Heats of fusion and vaporisation -- 4.3. Phase diagram description of water -- 4.4. Latent heat of fusion and vaporisation

5. First law of thermodynamics and its applications to thermal processes -- 5.1. The first law of thermodynamics

6. Pressure in terms of molecular motion -- 6.1. An ideal gas--a macroscopic approach -- 6.2. An ideal gas--a microscopic approach -- 7. Summary of equations.

The ancient Greeks believed that all matter was composed of four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. By a remarkable coincidence (or perhaps not), today we know that there are four states of matter: solids (e.g. earth), liquids (e.g. water), gasses (e.g. air) and plasma (e.g. ionized gas produced by fire). The plasma state is beyond the scope of this book and we will only look at the first three states. Although on the microscopic level all matter is made from atoms or molecules, everyday experience tells us that the three states have very different properties. The aim of this book is to examine some of these properties and the underlying physics.