As I am primarily a Mechanical Engineer, who learnt The Uncertainty Principle in Sem 1, and Thermodynamics 101 in Sem 2, I couldn't then, nor, now reconcile Boltzmann's S = k.lnΩ to all that statistical Omega fuzzy stuff and so stick to the classical theory which ignores micro/macrostates, and I've not had issues through my ignorance..
On Fri, Jul 4, 2025 at 3:00 AM Nicholas Thompson <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Sarbajit, > > George and I have been working on a way of understanding this > asymmetry which is kinda neat. Here is George's summary of our > conversation. The gist of it is that while you can bring chambers to the > same temperature by heating and compressing, they are in different > macrostates because aside effect of compression is an increase in density > which heating does not produce. > See: > https://chatgpt.com/canvas/shared/6865db6493e88191a9023926478b3c01 > > Nick > > > > On Thu, Jul 3, 2025 at 4:08 PM Sarbajit Roy <[email protected]> wrote: > >> It has been a very long time (too long) since I studied the 2nd law or >> Shannon. It's all very veiled and foggy just now, however, I have often >> wondered if Entropy is fundamentally about ignorance, correlations, or >> something deeper? >> >> On Thu, Jul 3, 2025 at 11:47 PM Nicholas Thompson < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Dear Long Suffering Friamers >>> >>> I think I have now managed to come up with a macrostate statement of a >>> phenomenon that requires entropy for its understanding. It parallels >>> Lincoln's aphorism about fooling all of the people. >>> >>> *Assuming friction free and quasistatic motion and total insulation >>> where appropriate:* >>> >>> *If you put a bunch of energy into a system by working on it,**you can >>> recover all that energy as work.* >>> >>> *If you put a bunch of energy into a system by heating it,**you can >>> recover all that energy as heating,* >>> >>> *If you put a bunch of energy into a system by working on it,** you can >>> recover all that energy as heating.* >>> >>> *But if you put a bunch of energy into a system by heating, you can NOT >>> recover all of that energy as work. * >>> >>> I think this is the asymmetry that requires the invention of entropy. >>> >>> Am I finally getting my Dux in a row? >>> >>> Nick >>> >>> -- >>> Nicholas S. Thompson >>> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology >>> Clark University >>> [email protected] >>> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson >>> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. >>> / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >>> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >>> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >>> archives: 5/2017 thru present >>> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >>> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >>> >> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / >> ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> archives: 5/2017 thru present >> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >> > > > -- > Nicholas S. Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology > Clark University > [email protected] > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / > ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
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