Thermodynamics is needed to understand many processes on Earth, be they physical, chemical, or biological. Thermodynamics is critical to study the atmosphere (lapse rate, fohn winds, circulation), hydrosphere (latent and sensible heat, pressure dependence of freezing/boiling points), geosphere (geothermal gradients, mineral stability) and the biosphere (redox zonation, evolution of biogeochemical cycles). This introduction to thermodynamics and equilibria aims to provide the basic concepts of relevance for atmospheric, marine, climate, and environmental sciences and to prepare students for more advanced classes in physical chemistry, mineralogy, and petrology.

This is an open access book.

Introduces thermodynamics targeted to Earth Sciences Covers concisely first and second law and their application in Earth System Sciences Explains chemical equilibria focused on carbon dioxide-water system This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

Autorentext

Jack Middelburg was trained as a biogeologist/geochemist and worked from 1992-2009 at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology. Since 2009 he holds the geochemistry chair at Utrecht University. He has a very wide scientific interest, from inorganic geochemistry via biogeochemistry to ecology, from elemental-cycles oriented to organisms-oriented studies, from weathering of rocks to deep-sea pore-waters, from laboratory studies and field observations to numerical modelling, from global scale down to nanometer scale, and through the use of reductionistic as well as holistic and explorative approaches. He has published more than 330 articles and serves as associate editor for various journals, including Science Advances, Biogeosciences and Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. He has been elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008 and is recipient of various awards, including ASLO's Hutchinsons medal in 2016 and the EGU's Vernadsky medal in 2017.

Inhalt

Introduction.- The First Law: Work, Heat and Thermochemistry.- Entropy and the Second Law.- The Gibbs Free Energy.- Introduction to Equilibrium.- Acid-base Equilibria.- Redox Equilibria.