When teaching thermal physics and statistical mechanics the authors find a lot of confusion among students about the meaning of the chemical potential μ. It seems particularly difficult for students to develop a physical picture of what μ is. In this paper some simple, pedagogical models are developed to make the meaning of μ clear, for a few selected systems.
Book Reviews
437One last point about why this book is worthy of your attention. Ferrara is not only a systematic and thorough thinker, who manages to masterfully navigate complex literatures; he also writes brilliantly: both qualities will be necessary if we are to defend democracy effectively. Following the author, one might say that good reasons alone will not suffice to transform the readers' viewpoints-they must also move the imagination. The Democratic Horizon demonstrates, with intellectual ingenuity and rhetorical panache, how to achieve this goal.
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