Download or read book A Farewell to Entropy written by Arieh Ben-Naim and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2008 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The principal message of this book is that thermodynamics and statistical mechanics will benefit from replacing the unfortunate, misleading and mysterious term ?entropy? with a more familiar, meaningful and appropriate term such as information, missing information or uncertainty. This replacement would facilitate the interpretation of the ?driving force? of many processes in terms of informational changes and dispel the mystery that has always enshrouded entropy.It has been 140 years since Clausius coined the term ?entropy?; almost 50 years since Shannon developed the mathematical theory of ?information? ? subsequently renamed ?entropy.? In this book, the author advocates replacing ?entropy? by ?information,? a term that has become widely used in many branches of science.The author also takes a new and bold approach to thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. Information is used not only as a tool for predicting distributions but as the fundamental cornerstone concept of thermodynamics, held until now by the term ?entropy.? The topics covered include the fundamentals of probability and information theory; the general concept of information as well as the particular concept of information as applied in thermodynamics; the re-derivation of the Sackur?Tetrode equation for the entropy of an ideal gas from purely informational arguments; the fundamental formalism of statistical mechanics; and many examples of simple processes the ?driving force? for which is analyzed in terms of information.
Download or read book A Farewell to Entropy written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Farewell to Entropy written by Arieh Ben-Naim and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2008 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributions in this volume discuss numerous hot topics of interdisciplinary interest in plasma physics, astrophysics, and fluid dynamics. It collects the articles presented at a Workshop that has gathered world experts with a broad spectrum of research interests.
Download or read book Discover Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Farewell to Reality written by Jim Baggott and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2013-08-06 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From acclaimed science author Jim Baggot, a lively, provocative, and “intellectually gratifying” critique of modern theoretical physics (The Economist). Where does one draw the line between solid science and fairy-tale physics? Jim Baggott argues that there is no observational or experimental evidence for many of the ideas of modern theoretical physics: super-symmetric particles, super strings, the multiverse, the holographic principle, or the anthropic cosmological principle. Unafraid to challenge prominent theorists, Baggott offers engaging portraits of many central figures of modern physics, including Stephen Hawking, Paul Davies, John D. Barrow, Brian Greene, and Leonard Susskind. Informed, comprehensive, and balanced, Farewell to Reality discusses the latest ideas about the nature of physical reality while clearly distinguishing between fact and fantasy, providing essential and entertaining reading for everyone interested in what we know and don’t know about the nature of the universe and reality itself.
Download or read book Statistical Mechanics written by B. Widom and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-04-18 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an introduction to statistical mechanics, intended for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students.
Download or read book Anxiety and the Equation written by Eric Johnson and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-11-01 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A man and his equation: the anxiety-plagued nineteenth-century physicist who contributed significantly to our understanding of the second law of thermodynamics. Ludwig Boltzmann's grave in Vienna's Central Cemetery bears a cryptic epitaph: S = k log W. This equation was Boltzmann's great discovery, and it contributed significantly to our understanding of the second law of thermodynamics. In Anxiety and the Equation, Eric Johnson tells the story of a man and his equation: the anxiety-plagued nineteenth-century physicist who did his most important work as he struggled with mental illness. Johnson explains that “S” in Boltzmann's equation refers to entropy, and that entropy is the central quantity in the second law of thermodynamics. The second law is always on, running in the background of our lives, providing a way to differentiate between past and future. We know that the future will be a state of higher entropy than the past, and we have Boltzmann to thank for discovering the equation that underlies that fundamental trend. Johnson, accessibly and engagingly, reassembles Boltzmann's equation from its various components and presents episodes from Boltzmann's life—beginning at the end, with “Boltzmann Kills Himself” and “Boltzmann Is Buried (Not Once, But Twice).” Johnson explains the second law in simple terms, introduces key concepts through thought experiments, and explores Boltzmann's work. He argues that Boltzmann, diagnosed by his contemporaries as neurasthenic, suffered from an anxiety disorder. He was, says Johnson, a man of reason who suffered from irrational concerns about his work, worrying especially about opposition from the scientific establishment of the day. Johnson's clear and concise explanations will acquaint the nonspecialist reader with such seemingly esoteric concepts as microstates, macrostates, fluctuations, the distribution of energy, log functions, and equilibrium. He describes Boltzmann's relationships with other scientists, including Max Planck and Henri Poincaré, and, finally, imagines “an alternative ending,” in which Boltzmann lived on and died of natural causes.
Download or read book A Farewell to Ice written by P. Wadhams and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ice, the magic crystal -- A brief history of ice on planet Earth -- The modern cycle of ice ages -- The greenhouse effect -- Sea ice meltback begins -- The future of Arctic sea ice the death spiral -- The accelerating effects of Arctic feedbacks -- Arctic methane, a catastrophe in the making -- Strange weather -- The secret life of chimneys -- What's happening to the Antarctic? -- The state of the planet -- A call to arms
Download or read book Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Statistics written by Aleksandr I︠A︡kovlevich Khinchin and published by . This book was released on 1960 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information written by Luciano Floridi and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Guide provides an ambitious state-of-the-art survey of the fundamental themes, problems, arguments and theories constituting the philosophy of computing. A complete guide to the philosophy of computing and information. Comprises 26 newly-written chapters by leading international experts. Provides a complete, critical introduction to the field. Each chapter combines careful scholarship with an engaging writing style. Includes an exhaustive glossary of technical terms. Ideal as a course text, but also of interest to researchers and general readers.
Download or read book Entropy written by Arieh Ben-Naim and published by World Scientific Publishing Company. This book was released on 2016-10-10 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses the proper definitions of entropy, the valid interpretation of entropy and some useful applications of the concept of entropy. Unlike many books which apply the concept of entropy to systems for which it is not even defined (such as living systems, black holes and the entire universe), these applications will help the reader to understand the meaning of entropy. It also emphasizes the limitations of the applicability of the concept of entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. As with the previous books by the author, this book aims at a clear and mystery-free presentation of the central concept in thermodynamics -- the entropy. In this book, the concepts of entropy and the Second Law are presented in a friendly, simple language. It is devoid of all kinds of fancy and pompous statements made by authors of popular science books who write on this subject.
Download or read book Brownian Motion written by Robert M. Mazo and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2002 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brownian motion- the incessant motion of small particles suspended in a fluid- is an important topic in statistical physics and physical chemistry. This book studies its origin in molecular scale fluctuations, its description in terms of random process theory and also in terms of statistical mechanics. - ;Brownian motion - the incessant motion of small particles suspended in a fluid - is an important topic in statistical physics and physical chemistry. This book studies its origin in molecular scale fluctuations, its description in terms of random process theory and also in terms of statistica.
Download or read book Street Fighting Mathematics written by Sanjoy Mahajan and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010-03-05 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An antidote to mathematical rigor mortis, teaching how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation. In problem solving, as in street fighting, rules are for fools: do whatever works—don't just stand there! Yet we often fear an unjustified leap even though it may land us on a correct result. Traditional mathematics teaching is largely about solving exactly stated problems exactly, yet life often hands us partly defined problems needing only moderately accurate solutions. This engaging book is an antidote to the rigor mortis brought on by too much mathematical rigor, teaching us how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation. In Street-Fighting Mathematics, Sanjoy Mahajan builds, sharpens, and demonstrates tools for educated guessing and down-and-dirty, opportunistic problem solving across diverse fields of knowledge—from mathematics to management. Mahajan describes six tools: dimensional analysis, easy cases, lumping, picture proofs, successive approximation, and reasoning by analogy. Illustrating each tool with numerous examples, he carefully separates the tool—the general principle—from the particular application so that the reader can most easily grasp the tool itself to use on problems of particular interest. Street-Fighting Mathematics grew out of a short course taught by the author at MIT for students ranging from first-year undergraduates to graduate students ready for careers in physics, mathematics, management, electrical engineering, computer science, and biology. They benefited from an approach that avoided rigor and taught them how to use mathematics to solve real problems. Street-Fighting Mathematics will appear in print and online under a Creative Commons Noncommercial Share Alike license.
Download or read book Underground Modernity written by Alfrun Kliems and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-23 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The literary scholar Alfrun Kliems explores the aesthetic strategies of Eastern European underground literature, art, film and music in the decades before and after the fall of communism, ranging from the ‘father’ of Prague Underground, Egon Bondy, to the neo-Dada Club of Polish Losers in Berlin. The works she considers are "underground" in the sense that they were produced illegally, or were received as subversive after the regimes had fallen. Her study challenges common notions of ‘underground’ as an umbrella term for nonconformism. Rather, it depicts it as a sociopoetic reflection of modernity, intimately linked to urban settings, with tropes and aesthetic procedures related to Surrealism, Dadaism, Expressionism, and, above all, pop and counterculture. The author discusses these commonalities and distinctions in Czech, Polish, Slovak, Ukrainian, Russian, and German authors, musicians, and filmmakers. She identifies intertextual relations across languages and generations, and situates her findings in a transatlantic context (including the Beat Generation, Susan Sontag, Neil Young) and the historical framework of Romanticism and modernity (including Baudelaire and Brecht). Despite this wide brief, the book never loses sight of its core message: Underground is no arbitrary expression of discontent, but rather the result of a fundamental conflict at the socio-philosophical roots of modernity.
Download or read book See You in Paradise written by J. Robert Lennon and published by Graywolf Press. This book was released on 2014-11-04 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first substantial collection of short fiction from "a writer with enough electricity to light up the country" (Ann Patchett) "I guess the things that scare you are the things that are almost normal," observes one narrator in this collection of effervescent and often uncanny stories. Drawing on fifteen years of work, See You in Paradise is the fullest expression yet of J. Robert Lennon's distinctive and brilliantly comic take on the pathos and surreality at the heart of American life. In Lennon's America, a portal to another universe can be discovered with surprising nonchalance in a suburban backyard, adoption almost reaches the level of blood sport, and old pals return from the dead to steal your girlfriend. Sexual dysfunction, suicide, tragic accidents, and career stagnation all create surprising opportunities for unexpected grace in this full-hearted and mischievous depiction of those days (weeks, months, years) we all have when things just don't go quite right.
Download or read book The Statistical Foundations Of Entropy written by John D Ramshaw and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2017-11-24 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents an innovative unified approach to the statistical foundations of entropy and the fundamentals of equilibrium statistical mechanics. These intimately related subjects are often developed in a fragmented historical manner which obscures the essential simplicity of their logical structure. In contrast, this book critically reassesses and systematically reorganizes the basic concepts into a simpler sequential framework which reveals more clearly their logical relationships. The inherent indistinguishability of identical particles is emphasized, and the resulting unification of classical and quantum statistics is discussed in detail.The discussion is focused entirely on fundamental concepts, so applications are omitted. The book is written at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level, and will be useful as a concise supplement to conventional books and courses in statistical mechanics, thermal physics, and thermodynamics. It is also suitable for self-study by those seeking a deeper and more detailed analysis of the fundamentals.
Download or read book Entropy Demystified written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
