Statistical mechanics or statistical thermodynamics is a branch of physics that applies probability theory, which contains mathematical tools to deal with large populations, to study the thermodynamic behavior of systems composed of a large number of particles. The statistical mechanics provides a framework for relating the microscopic properties of individual atoms and molecules to the macroscopic bulk properties of materials that can be observed in everyday life.
Statistical mechanics provides a molecular level interpretation of macroscopic thermodynamic quantities such as work, heat, free energy, and entropy. This ability to make macroscopic predictions based on microscopic properties is the main advantage of statistical mechanics over classical thermodynamics. Both theories are governed by the second law of thermodynamics through the medium of entropy. However entropy in thermodynamics can only be known empirically, whereas in statistical mechanics, it is a function of the distribution of the system on its micro-states.
Statistical mechanics was initiated in 1870 with the work of Australian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann. The term "statistical thermodynamics" was proposed by the American thermodynamicist and physical chemist J. Willard Gibbs in 1902.
Source: wikipedia
Statistical mechanics provides a molecular level interpretation of macroscopic thermodynamic quantities such as work, heat, free energy, and entropy. This ability to make macroscopic predictions based on microscopic properties is the main advantage of statistical mechanics over classical thermodynamics. Both theories are governed by the second law of thermodynamics through the medium of entropy. However entropy in thermodynamics can only be known empirically, whereas in statistical mechanics, it is a function of the distribution of the system on its micro-states.
Statistical mechanics was initiated in 1870 with the work of Australian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann. The term "statistical thermodynamics" was proposed by the American thermodynamicist and physical chemist J. Willard Gibbs in 1902.
Source: wikipedia
"In my opinion, it would be a great tragedy for science if the theory of gases were temporarily thrown into oblivion because of a momentary hostile toward it, as was for example the wave theory because of Newton's authority.-Ludwig Boltzmann, Lectures on Gas Theory (Part II), 1898
I am conscious of being only an individual struggling weakly against the stream of time. But it still remains in my power to contribute in such a way that, when the theory of gases is again revived, not too much will have to be rediscovered. Thus in this book I will now include the parts that are the most difficult and most subject to misunderstanding, and give (at least in outline) the most easily understood exposition of them."
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