Physical adsorption involves atomic or molecular films bound to surfaces by less than 0.5eV per particle (10 kcal/mole). This subject has attracted wide interest because these films exhibit behaviour characteristic of two-dimensional matter. The phase diagram of these films are diverse and often rich in structure because of the competing energy and length scales of the two interactions involved in this probelm: the mutual intercation between adsorped molecules and
the force binding each molecule to the surface. This book describes the authors current understanding of these phenomena from a fundamental perspective. After explining the microscopic origin of these forces in terms of the constituent electrons, the text describes how statistical mechanical theory
and/or computer simulation employ these forces to calculate the structural and dynamical properties of the films. Throughout the book, comparison is made with many relevant experiments.
Unique in its field, this book will be of interest to students and both academic and industrial researchers in chemistry, engineering and physics.