Re: Entropy question

Zigoteau,

Zigoteau wrote: 
Hi, Andy,

<snip> 

Thanks for the references, which I will read. However, are you saying
that statistical mechanics supersedes normal mechanics? I cannot go
along with that.

I don't think that's what I'm saying. Although, to be truthful, I'm not sure what you mean by "normal" mechanics. Newtonian? Continuum? Quantum? All have their advantages and disadvantages, and (partially overlapping) spheres of applicability.

IMHO "emergence" is the second-last refuge of the scoundrel. 

Yeah, I'm no fan of buzzwords either.


Yes, structures emerge, usually when they have been designed in
(including evolution as the blind watchmaker). They can be explained
adequately by statistical mechanics, but the systems actually obey the
standard laws of mechanics, which cannot be discarded if you want to
understand the kinetics of the process.

I don't think that's true at all- contact line motion cannot currently be explained by mechanics. Chemi-osmotic processes (Peter Mitchell's Nobel winning theory on cellular respiration) cannot be explained by mechanics, nor can any chemical-mechanical system like muscles. "Heat" can't be explained in terms of mechanics.

I'm leery of using the buzzword "designed" especially in the current political environment :)


--
Andrew Resnick, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Case Western Reserve University
.

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