Making Sense of Statistical Mechanics

· Springer Nature
E-boek
368
Pagina's

Over dit e-boek

Many people, including physicists, are confused about what the Second Law of thermodynamics really means, about how it relates to the arrow of time, and about whether it can be derived from classical mechanics. They also wonder what entropy really is: Is it all about information? But, if so, then, what is its relation to fluxes of heat?

One might ask similar questions about probabilities: Do they express subjective judgments by us, humans, or do they reflect facts about the world, i.e. frequencies. And what notion of probability is used in the natural sciences, in particular statistical mechanics?

This book addresses all of these questions in the clear and pedagogical style for which the author is known. Although valuable as accompaniment to an undergraduate course on statistical mechanics or thermodynamics, it is not a standard course book. Instead it addresses both the essentials and the many subtle questions that are usually brushed under the carpet in such courses. As one of the most lucid accounts of the above questions, it provides enlightening reading for all those seeking answers, including students, lecturers, researchers and philosophers of science.

Over de auteur

Jean Bricmont (born in 1952) is a theoretical physicist, and a retired professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain. He works on statistical and mathematical physics. He is mostly known to the non-academic audience for co-authoring Fashionable Nonsense (also known as Intellectual Impostures) with Alan Sokal, in which they criticize relativism in the philosophy of science. He also published Making Sense of Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Sense and Nonsense with Springer.

Dit e-boek beoordelen

Geef ons je mening.

Informatie over lezen

Smartphones en tablets
Installeer de Google Play Boeken-app voor Android en iPad/iPhone. De app wordt automatisch gesynchroniseerd met je account en met de app kun je online of offline lezen, waar je ook bent.
Laptops en computers
Via de webbrowser van je computer kun je luisteren naar audioboeken die je hebt gekocht op Google Play.
eReaders en andere apparaten
Als je wilt lezen op e-ink-apparaten zoals e-readers van Kobo, moet je een bestand downloaden en overzetten naar je apparaat. Volg de gedetailleerde instructies in het Helpcentrum om de bestanden over te zetten op ondersteunde e-readers.