Statistical mechanics and the statistical interpretation of entropy
Mecánica estadística e interpretación probabilística de la entropía
- Date
- 1872-1877 · confidence high
- Place
- Graz, Austria
- Credited to
- Ludwig Boltzmann; Josiah Willard Gibbs
- People
- 👤 Josiah Willard Gibbs1839–1903👤 Ludwig Boltzmann1844–1906
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Entropy measures the number of microscopic configurations compatible with a macroscopic state (S = k log W), and the second law is a probabilistic tendency. It reduces thermodynamics to the mechanics of atoms and introduces probability into the fundamental laws.
Gibbs (New Haven, 1902) formulated the general version of ensembles. The equation S = k log W is engraved on Boltzmann's tomb in Vienna.
What it led to
- Planck's quantum theory (which used the combinatorial method)
- Quantum statistics (Bose-Einstein, Fermi-Dirac)
- Information theory
- Physics of complex systems and phase transitions
Built on
- Kinetic theory of gases and Maxwell distribution1857-1860
- Maxwell's kinetic theory
- Clausius entropy
- Atomism
Made possible
- Principle of maximum entropy1957
- Jones polynomial and quantum topology1984
- Monte Carlo simulation
- Design of materials via statistical thermodynamics