Basic thermodynamics of materials

An essential issue in materials science is to establish the stability of any of the crystal structures discussed above relative to any other, to determine the energy released or absorbed upon reaction to form or decompose compoimds, and to determine how conditions such as temperature and pressure affect the stability of materials. This section describes the basic approach to tackling these questions. 

Before calculating the stability of a material, we need to decide how to describe it in a well-defined way. We will make extensive use of the term phase.  

Let us examine these components from a thermodynamic perspective. In Chapter 2 (and again in Chapter 5) we consider quantum mechanical methods for determining 

Likewise, when a system changes state, its total energy is modified based on heat and work done during the transformation and changes in bond energy as, 

We will consider the heat, work, and bond energies of forming a solid separately. 

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