Fundamentals of macroscopic and microscopic thermodynamics

In Course 1 the fundamentals of both macroscopic and microscopic thermodynamics are first studied from a postulative point of view. From this point of view the meaning of temperature, thermodynamic pressure and chemical potential is particularly clear and easy to understand. In addition, the development of the Fundamental Relation and its various transformations leads to a clear path to property relations and to the concept of ensembles, which is necessary for understanding the relationship between atomic and molecular structural properties and macroscopic properties. We then explore the relationship between atomic and molecular structure and macroscopic properties using a statistical point of view. Using a postulative approach, the method for doing this becomes clear. This leads to the development of a partition function that describes the distribution of molecular quantum states as a function of independent, macroscopic thermodynamic properties.