
Contents
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25.1 Mechanical Models of Thermal Phenomena 25.1 Mechanical Models of Thermal Phenomena
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25.1.1 Heat as a Challenge to Mechanics 25.1.1 Heat as a Challenge to Mechanics
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25.1.2 Heat as a Fluid 25.1.2 Heat as a Fluid
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25.1.3 Heat as a Motion 25.1.3 Heat as a Motion
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25.1.4 The Kinetic Theory 25.1.4 The Kinetic Theory
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25.2 Gas Theory as a Bridge between Mechanics and Thermodynamics 25.2 Gas Theory as a Bridge between Mechanics and Thermodynamics
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25.2.1 Thermodynamics as a Challenge to Mechanics 25.2.1 Thermodynamics as a Challenge to Mechanics
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25.2.2 Gases as Particles in Motion 25.2.2 Gases as Particles in Motion
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25.2.3 The Transport Properties of Gases 25.2.3 The Transport Properties of Gases
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25.2.4 The Maxwell–Boltzmann Law 25.2.4 The Maxwell–Boltzmann Law
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25.2.5 The Problem of Specific Heats 25.2.5 The Problem of Specific Heats
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25.2.6 The Boltzmann Equation and the H-Theorem 25.2.6 The Boltzmann Equation and the H-Theorem
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25.2.7 Challenges to the Second Law 25.2.7 Challenges to the Second Law
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25.2.8 The Probabilistic Interpretation of Entropy 25.2.8 The Probabilistic Interpretation of Entropy
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25.2.9 The H-Curve 25.2.9 The H-Curve
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25.2.10 Reception of the Kinetic Theory 25.2.10 Reception of the Kinetic Theory
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25.3 From Kinetic Theory to Statistical Mechanics 25.3 From Kinetic Theory to Statistical Mechanics
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25.3.1 Statistical Mechanics as a New Perspective 25.3.1 Statistical Mechanics as a New Perspective
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25.3.2 Global Approaches 25.3.2 Global Approaches
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25.3.3 Beyond Gases 25.3.3 Beyond Gases
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25.3.4 Gibbs’ and Einstein’s Formulations of Statistical Mechanics 25.3.4 Gibbs’ and Einstein’s Formulations of Statistical Mechanics
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25.3.5 The Boltzmann Legacy 25.3.5 The Boltzmann Legacy
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References References
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Studies Studies
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Note Note
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25 The Emergence of Statistical Mechanics
Get accessOlivier Darrigol is a CNRS research director in the SPHERE/Rehseis research team in Paris. He investigates the history of physics, mostly nineteenth and twentieth century, with a strong interest in related philosophical questions. He is the author of several books including From c-numbers to q-numbers: The classical analogy in the history of quantum theory (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), Electrodynamics from Ampère to Einstein (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), Worlds of flow: A history of hydrodynamics from the Bernoullis to Prandtl (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), and A history of optics from Greek antiquity to the nineteenth century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
Honorary Professor of the History of Science, Humboldt University, Berlin
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Published:06 July 2017
Cite
Abstract
This article traces the history of statistical mechanics, beginning with a discussion of mechanical models of thermal phenomena. In particular, it considers how several circumstances, including the establishment of thermodynamics in the mid-nineteenth century, led to a focus on the model of heat as a motion of particles. It then describes the concept of heat as fluid and the kinetic theory before turning to gas theory and how it served as a bridge between mechanics and thermodynamics. It also explores gases as particles in motion, the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution, the problem of specific heats, challenges to the second law of thermodynamics, and the probabilistic interpretation of entropy. Finally, it examines how the results of the kinetic theory assumed a new meaning as cornerstones of a more broadly conceived statistical physics, along with Josiah Willard Gibbs and Albert Einstein’s development of statistical mechanics as a synthetic framework.
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