A Comprehensive Account of the Laws of Classical Thermodynamics : Pursuit of Optimally Empirical Approach

A comprehensive exposition on the basic ideas underlying the fundamental laws of classical thermodynamics is presented. Consideration of various thermal processes by using our knowledge on the thermal phenomena encountered in our daily experience is shown to allow us to understand the essential aspects of classical thermodynamics easily and quickly. In this approach, reversible process, one of abstract concepts in classical thermodynamics and often repellant to students in rudimentary stages, appears not as a tool for the discussion but as a consequence.