Re: Entropy question


Hi, Andy,



> Yes, but saying statistical mechanics is an "approximation" to some
> deeper truth isn't exactly right right either. That's like believing in
> hidden variables in quantum mechanics. Statistical mechanics also makes
> a strong statement that microscale physics is not always relevant to the
> macroscale. That's where entropy comes in, and irreversibility.


I can see where you're coming from, but I'm sticking to my guns.
Statistical mechanics reconciles classical thermodynamics with
mechanics, either Newtonian or quantum. You are right that for a long
time people believed, on the basis of analyses of systems with a small
number of degrees of freedom, that time had no inherent direction in
Newtonian mechanics. In thermodynamics it definitely does have one.
Statistical mechanics explains why such analyses are misguided for
systems where the number of degrees of freedom is very large.

Cheers,

Zigoteau.

.