Discover Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics: A Playful Way of Discovering a Law of Nature

287 Pages·2010·4.756 MB·English

by  Arieh Ben-Naim

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Discover Entropy
and the
Second Law Thermodynamics
of
A Playful Way of Discovering a Law of Nature
7694tp.indd 1 7/21/10 5:33 PM
Discover Entropy
and the
Second Law Thermodynamics
of
A Playful Way of
Discovering a Law of Nature
H ANNON’S M EASURE
S O
F
INFORMATIO N P ROBABILI T Y

N
DI O
STRIBU T I
Arieh Ben-Naim
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
World Scientific
NEW JERSEY • LONDON • SINGAPORE • BEIJING • SHANGHAI • HONG KONG • TAIPEI • CHENNAI
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Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ben-Naim, Arieh.
Discover entropy and the second law of thermodynamics : a playful way of
discovering a law of nature / Arieh Ben-Naim.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-981-4299-75-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 981-4299-75-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-981-4299-76-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 981-4299-76-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Entropy. 2. Second law of thermodynamics. 3. Thermodynamics. I. Title.
QC318.E57B458 2010
536'.73--dc22
2010023319
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2010 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be
invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222
Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher.
Typeset by Stallion Press
Email: [email protected]
Printed in Singapore.
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T°C
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T°C
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Contents
Preface xiii
Self-Testing Kit xix
List of Abbreviations xxiii
Acknowledgement xxv
1. Introduction: A Brief History of Entropy and the Second Law
of Thermodynamics 1
1.1. The Non-Atomistic Formulations of the Second Law 1
1.2. The Atomistic Formulation of the Second Law 6
1.3. Entropy as a Measure of Information 10
1.4. Popular Metaphoric Descriptions of Entropy 13
2. All You Need to Know but Never Dared to Admit
that You Already Know 17
2.1. Grouping of Objects and Assigning Measures 18
2.2. Events and Their Probabilities 27
2.3. Information and its Shannon Measure 38
ix