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Physical Chemistry
With its modern emphasis on the molecular view of physical chemistry, its wealth of contemporary applications (in the new "Impact on" features), vivid full-color presentation, and dynamic new media tools, the thoroughly revised new edition is again the most modern, most effective full-length textbook available for the physical chemistry classroom.
NOW AVAILABLE IN SPLIT VOLUMES
For maximum flexibility in your physical chemistry course, this text is
now offered as a traditional or in two volumes.
• Volume 1: Thermodynamics and Kinetics (ISBN 0-7167-8567-6)
• Volume 2: Quantum Chemistry, Spectroscopy, and Statistical
Thermodynamics (ISBN 0-7167-8569-2)
See Table of Contents for the contents of each volume.
NOW AVAILABLE IN SPLIT VOLUMES
For maximum flexibility in your physical chemistry course, this text is
now offered as a traditional or in two volumes.
• Volume 1: Thermodynamics and Kinetics (ISBN 0-7167-8567-6)
• Volume 2: Quantum Chemistry, Spectroscopy, and Statistical
Thermodynamics (ISBN 0-7167-8569-2)
See Table of Contents for the contents of each volume.
1072 pages, Hardcover
First published January 5, 1978
175 people are currently reading
2190 people want to read
About the author
Peter Atkins
209 books202 followersPeter William Atkins is an English chemist and a Fellow of Lincoln College at the University of Oxford. He retired in 2007. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks, including Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Molecular Quantum Mechanics. Atkins is also the author of a number of popular science books, including Atkins' Molecules, Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science and On Being.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
October 25, 2015
It was the book that I read selectively when I was in my Sr. Secondary; and read it, more or less, from cover to cover in my graduation. I remember it as a beautiful book that enriched my knowledge of physical chemistry and made my fundamentals stronger. It's been many years now since I read anything related to Chemistry, but I will remember this book, along with Organic Chemistry by Morrison & Boyd, that I enjoyed reading thoroughly.
November 27, 2024
Der Stoff für Tränen....deren gelösten Salzgehalt und Dampfdruck in Abhängigkeit der physikal-chemischen Freiheitsgrade bestimmen kannst.
Nur die Harten komm'en Garten
All Killer No Filler
straight up heat
Nur die Harten komm'en Garten
All Killer No Filler
straight up heat
November 15, 2020
This is an amazing book on physical chemistry. Its scope is all-encompassing and it's written in a pleasant pedagogical style, as is usual for any book from Atkins. While it may not be suited for absolute beginners, the crowd that already has some knowledge on the subject will surely enjoy it. I know I have!
December 11, 2013
I'm not entirely sure why this book receives so many negative reviews from students of chemistry. It's not perfect, but I don't know of a book that gives a better general overview of physical chemistry. Point me towards it if you know of one.
May 29, 2016
9th edition. I saw some reviews that were bewildered to see the low ratings. Here is why I give this book a low rating:
I have gone through this whole book over the last year. As I read it, and especially towards chapters 17,18,19,20,21, things feel really jumbled around. I will go through a passage, feel like I understand it, and then I see an example using definitions that it had not previously introduced. It often skips many steps. I was doing Ch 15 homework, and the equation I was supposed to use for one of them was from Ch 16. I'm not there yet! The homework used equations or forms of the primary equation that were not introduced and not listed in the end-chapter formulas list. If it did, then it would just be printed with nothing really being said about it, but I'm expected to apply it. These were common problems for me. I am predisposed towards biochemistry, and physical chemistry just doesn't work for me. This book doesn't work for me.
At the very end of all my physical chemistry courses, I have been fortunate enough to find the classic big red book: McQuarrie & Simon. That book has been a lifesaver. I have been learning physical chemistry for the first time in my life, albeit poorly. It uses words to keep you on track, followed by the equations. I feel like McQuarrie puts things in to English much better than Atkins. I also feel like McQuarrie is better at putting things in to the overall context of what we are doing and what our end goal is. The flow of the chapters is very tight... they roll into each other nicely. When McQuarrie talks about derivative or integrated forms of these equations, there is context and it explains more deeply what is happening when you apply the derivative forms.
I have gone through the entire Atkins book during my courses, and I have hardly learned anything from it. McQuarrie & Simon lifts the veil. If Atkins works for you, then that's great. If it isn't working for you, try McQuarrie. It's a little more reading than Atkins but I get through it way faster because I spend less time trying to decode everything.
I have gone through this whole book over the last year. As I read it, and especially towards chapters 17,18,19,20,21, things feel really jumbled around. I will go through a passage, feel like I understand it, and then I see an example using definitions that it had not previously introduced. It often skips many steps. I was doing Ch 15 homework, and the equation I was supposed to use for one of them was from Ch 16. I'm not there yet! The homework used equations or forms of the primary equation that were not introduced and not listed in the end-chapter formulas list. If it did, then it would just be printed with nothing really being said about it, but I'm expected to apply it. These were common problems for me. I am predisposed towards biochemistry, and physical chemistry just doesn't work for me. This book doesn't work for me.
At the very end of all my physical chemistry courses, I have been fortunate enough to find the classic big red book: McQuarrie & Simon. That book has been a lifesaver. I have been learning physical chemistry for the first time in my life, albeit poorly. It uses words to keep you on track, followed by the equations. I feel like McQuarrie puts things in to English much better than Atkins. I also feel like McQuarrie is better at putting things in to the overall context of what we are doing and what our end goal is. The flow of the chapters is very tight... they roll into each other nicely. When McQuarrie talks about derivative or integrated forms of these equations, there is context and it explains more deeply what is happening when you apply the derivative forms.
I have gone through the entire Atkins book during my courses, and I have hardly learned anything from it. McQuarrie & Simon lifts the veil. If Atkins works for you, then that's great. If it isn't working for you, try McQuarrie. It's a little more reading than Atkins but I get through it way faster because I spend less time trying to decode everything.
September 12, 2022
Its a love/hate relationship, but at the end of the day I still come back to it with a smile on my face❤️
August 19, 2024
Ouchie my head hurt read this
May 10, 2014
A noble work of the intellect
Murray Rothland wrote, “Every once in a while the human race pauses in the job of botching its affairs and redeems itself by a noble work of the intellect”. Atkins book is just such a noble work. Rare is it to find a technical text that reads more like a novel, but Atkins does. Not only is the topic fascinating on its own (mostly the physics of molecules), but Atkins raises it to the level of riveting. In those far off years of the university experience for this reader, it was said only a genius could grasp physical chemistry – not true, at least not with Atkins leading the way. Atkins uses varied tools with so many well-chosen angles on description that the reader sees things in nature never realized before. Most often through analogies to what we know well, e.g. the familiar constructive & destructive interference (wave mechanics) applied to wave functions (Schrödinger's sometimes confounding quantum probability description) yielding electron orbitals with shapes that suddenly make sense. That “aha” experience is so frequently felt while reading this book it’s hard to put it down, for anything. There are apparently several versions of this 2006 8th edition. The two in paperback come in color or black-&-white. There’s also 4 years of access to the book’s website, including the text, all its figures, spread sheets and MathCad models. A salute to Oxford University Press and Atkins for this remarkable resource.
Murray Rothland wrote, “Every once in a while the human race pauses in the job of botching its affairs and redeems itself by a noble work of the intellect”. Atkins book is just such a noble work. Rare is it to find a technical text that reads more like a novel, but Atkins does. Not only is the topic fascinating on its own (mostly the physics of molecules), but Atkins raises it to the level of riveting. In those far off years of the university experience for this reader, it was said only a genius could grasp physical chemistry – not true, at least not with Atkins leading the way. Atkins uses varied tools with so many well-chosen angles on description that the reader sees things in nature never realized before. Most often through analogies to what we know well, e.g. the familiar constructive & destructive interference (wave mechanics) applied to wave functions (Schrödinger's sometimes confounding quantum probability description) yielding electron orbitals with shapes that suddenly make sense. That “aha” experience is so frequently felt while reading this book it’s hard to put it down, for anything. There are apparently several versions of this 2006 8th edition. The two in paperback come in color or black-&-white. There’s also 4 years of access to the book’s website, including the text, all its figures, spread sheets and MathCad models. A salute to Oxford University Press and Atkins for this remarkable resource.
October 11, 2015
I love this book! It is really well written. There is a lot of material and I wouldn't necessary recommend carrying it around in your book bag like I did, unless you have to, you will end up with back problems - but this is truly comprehensive. The illustrations are very helpful and match with the text. Atkins and team did a great job of thoroughly explaining the concepts. I found this text to be extremely useful in teaching me P chem. Everyone else bombed their exams because they were trying to learn from the lectures. I did really well because I had this book. Every concept is explained extremely clearly and easily. If you read through, all the concepts make sense. Many other science books are really dry and are hard to follow. But not this one. This is one of my favorites - and I have been forced to read a lot of science books in my day.
March 24, 2011
Best book in the world for physical chemistry
September 10, 2016
What can I say? One of the quintessential chemistry books, a true bible of physical chemistry. A must for any true chemist, my go-to reference for P.Chem.
April 29, 2019
Awesome text book for physical chemistry ....... In undergraduate level.
Love reading it.
Love reading it.
July 12, 2023
Although it doesn't have all of the mathematical proof, it has a clear point of view. I advise you to read Atkins' text but focus on the Alberti problems.
Atkins alone probably won't give you a better knowledge of thermodynamics; you'll need to work through all the problems.
Atkins alone probably won't give you a better knowledge of thermodynamics; you'll need to work through all the problems.
April 11, 2020
A bookshelf staple for physical chemists.
September 27, 2023
Go suck ya mum
June 25, 2008
Granted, I have the 7th edition of this, but it was lovely.
March 12, 2023
There is no other text book that explains physical chemistry as well. Absolutely lucid and wonderful. You never thought physical chemistry could be this interesting!
January 1, 2017
Could use a proof section for those sections which are mathematics heavy, where they treat the proof as they do in theoretical chemistry papers. Otherwise, quite well written.
May 24, 2017
It was like stepping into another world.
This was my chemistry text book for two years and I would sometimes spend a morning on one single page.
Great book, great book.
This was my chemistry text book for two years and I would sometimes spend a morning on one single page.
Great book, great book.
April 13, 2019
Well-written and easy to understand.
August 17, 2019
One of the best texts available in physical chemistry. It blends authority of the author with continuous revision and width of material coverage. It suits all sorts of undergraduate courses.
Read
September 20, 2019Want to read it
October 20, 2019
Simply a must-read for every natural sciences student.
March 25, 2020
good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2020
it is the best
June 18, 2021
I love this book
December 13, 2023
Well explained but made me cry multiple times.
February 12, 2024
hard 2 read, but im a C grade chem grad
July 27, 2024
The more you read, the less you fell like you understand. Truly magic.
March 9, 2025
Wala ako maintindihan. Murder mystery ang genre pero ako ang namatay sa ending.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews