Clausius-Clapeyron
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The Clausius-Clapeyron equation – explained
Many years ago a colleague and close friend made the rather courageous decision to get his PhD in chemical engineering—studying nights and weekends—while continuing to work full-time. After two semesters of courses he had to take his qualifying exams. The day after his oral exam I asked him how it went. “Can you believe it?… Continue reading
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Dissemination of Gibbs’s work (Path 2): Gibbs ➔ van der Waals ➔ Roozeboom ➔ community
In my previous two posts (here and here), I described the ways by which J. Willard Gibbs’s work on thermodynamics spread through the European science community. In this post I describe another way Gibbs’s work spread and it began with early admirer of Gibbs, Johannes Diderik van der Waals (1837-1923), a Dutch theoretical physicist. It… Continue reading
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Why ask why?
Stephen Hawking: “I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions. Occasionally, I find an answer.” At what point does one stop asking “why?” For children, it is usually when exasperated parents, after hearing multiple successive why’s, say “stop” or “look it up” or “go… Continue reading
Block by Block – The Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Thermodynamics. “Hanlon has written a masterpiece.” – Mike Pauken, Senior Engineer, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and author of Thermodynamics for Dummies
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About Me
Hi! I’m Bob Hanlon. After earning my Sc.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and enjoying a long career in both industry and academia, I’ve returned to school, my own self-guided school, seeking to better understand the world of thermodynamics. Please join me on my journey.
Recent Posts
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- The Machinery Underneath – update on my 2nd thermodynamics book
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