Chapter 1:Basis and Scope

This book is a collection of chapters which report on recent developments in the field of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. It is meant for readers that would like to know what the field can add to their understanding of transport phenomena, or what it means for experimental design. Classical non-equilibrium thermodynamics was established in 1931 and developed during the subsequent thirty years for transport in homogeneous phases. This chapter gives a short presentation of the basic assumptions, along with advice on how to derive the entropy production and find the flux–force relations for transport of heat, mass and charge. In the end of the chapter, we put the subsequent chapters of the book into perspective. The book presents recent results for homogeneous systems, for mesoscopic systems and for heterogeneous systems.