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What is Statistical Mechanics?

Frigg, Roman (2012) What is Statistical Mechanics? [Preprint]

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Abstract

Thermodynamics describes a large class of phenomena we observe in macroscopic systems. The aim of statistical mechanics is to account for this behaviour in terms of the dynamical laws governing the microscopic constituents of macroscopic systems and probabilistic assumptions. This
article provides a survey of the discussion about the foundation of statistical mechanics by introducing the basic approaches and discussing their merits as well as their problems. After a brief review of classical mechanics, which provides the background against which statistical mechanics is formulated, we discuss the two main theoretical approaches to statistical mechanics, one of which can be associated with Boltzmann and the other with Gibbs. We end with a discussion of remaining
issues and open questions.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Frigg, Romanr.p.frigg@lse.ac.uk
Keywords: Statistical Mechanics, Entropy, Second Law of Thermodynamics, Equilibrium
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Depositing User: Roman Frigg
Date Deposited: 02 Jun 2012 12:13
Last Modified: 02 Jun 2012 12:13
Item ID: 9133
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Date: April 2012
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/9133

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