Book excerpt: An Introduction to Chemical Metallurgy, Second Edition introduces the reader to chemical metallurgy, including its fundamental principles and some of their applications. References in the text to a date and the author of some law or principle of physical chemistry are given for the sake of historical significance. This book is comprised of eight chapters and opens with an overview of thermodynamics, with particular emphasis on the first law of thermodynamics; the expansion of a gas; thermodynamically reversible changes; applications of thermochemistry in metallurgy; and experimental techniques in calorimetry. The following chapters focus on entropy, free energy, and chemical equilibrium; solutions and reaction kinetics; extraction and refining of metals, including refining by preferential oxidation; and corrosion and electrodeposition. Electrochemistry and interfacial phenomena are also explored, along with surface energy and surface tension, electrolytes and electrolysis, and reduction and oxidation potentials. This monograph is written primarily for chemists and metallurgists as well as students embarking on courses in chemical metallurgy.