Timeline for Callen's thermodynamics - is it possible for the state of maximum entropy to lie on unphysical thermodynamic coordinates?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
4 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 17 at 18:09 | comment | added | Anna | Ah, I think I understand now! For example, if a bunch of molecules are leaving and entering our system in some regular way, then our mole numbers („macroscopic average“) might be a non-integer? | |
| Nov 17 at 14:55 | comment | added | Andrew Steane | Yes, that is right in the case where $N$ is constrained to a fixed value (the closed system). But if $N$ is not constrained then you have the case where an average value of $N$ need not be an integer. | |
| Nov 17 at 14:20 | comment | added | Anna | So is the thinking that since our scale at least in the order of $10^{23}$ particles, we can think of $N$ as being able to change continuously even though it strictly changes discretely? Since each change is so small compared to the amount of particles we have. If we drew a number line that represents the amount of particles $N$ in a system, and we removed 1 particle at a time and marked $N$ after each subsequent removal on our number line, then it would approximate a continuous line very well given our "resolution". Is this the kind of thinking we are employing here? | |
| Nov 16 at 22:03 | history | answered | Andrew Steane | CC BY-SA 4.0 |