Entropy is so simple

"A gas is a chaotic assembly of molecules, chaotic in spatial distribution and chaotic in the distribution of molecular speeds. Each speed corresponds to a certain kinetic energy."

(page 18)

Book review, Title The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction, Author Peter Atkins, Rating 3.0,

The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction Peter Atkins Book review

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Peter Atkins, a bona fide chemistry professor, takes a shot at summarizing the Laws of Thermodynamics, particularly the 2nd Law, for the million. He claims that when he is done explaining, you will understand how all change of any kind occurs, why death itself must come, even how the unfolding of the very thoughts you are employing to read his book is a consequence of the 2nd Law. Alas his explanations fall short of such a lofty goal.

In addition to his ambitious promises to enlighten, Atkins quotes C.P. Snow as saying that not knowing the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is the same as not having read Shakespeare (note 1); you are culturally backward if you don’t take a crack at his book.

Unfortunately, he could not resist the formalism of the subject. This book would effectively serve those beginning formal university training in chemistry or physics.

For the curious but untrained? Not so much. The explanation is mediocre; it certainly did not approach the level of enlightenment the author promised. There are better and more succinct explanations elsewhere.

Notes

 

The Two Cultures, by C.P. Snow

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1. C.P. Snow, in his Two Cultures, talked about the widening gap between the culture of science and the culture of the humanities. He said of those in the humanities: "I have asked how many could describe the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The response was cold: it was also negative. Yet I was asking something which is about the scientific equivalent of: Have you read a work of Shakespeare's?" (page 15) He followed immediately with: "I now believe that if I had asked an even simpler question—such as, What do you mean by mass, or acceleration, which is the scientific equivalent of saying, Can you read? - not more than one in ten of the highly educated would have felt that I was speaking the same language. So the great edifice of modern physics goes up, and the majority of the cleverest people in the western world have about as much insight into it as their neolithic ancestors would have had." (page 15)