Statistical mechanics Definition and 355 Threads

Does "equilibrium" imply max. entropy in statistical mechanics? I've gotten myself confused thinking about the meaning of "equilibrium" in statistical mechanics. I thought I remembered that an isolated system at equilibrium is equally likely to be in any possible microstate, which means there...

In my Statistical Physics and Entropy module, we did something about atoms in a box with an imaginary partition down the middle, so atoms could either be on the left or the right. If there were 4 atoms in the box, the system would have 5 macrostates. If there were 8, there would be 9. Is is...

Please Help- A problem in statistical mechanics In a gas at STP, let p(r)dr be the probability that an atom has a nearest neighbor between distances r and r+dr. Find p(r). I am struggling with this question. For STP I can find the particle density. But where do I go from there? Do I need...

I got into a discussion about the "arrow of time" recently, and one point I brought up is that for a system governed by time-symmetric laws, if you place no special restrictions on the initial conditions but instead pick an initial state randomly from the system's entire phase space, you will be...

I'm planing on learning Statistical Mechanics by myself. I would like to hear recomendations on what you think are the best Statistical Mechanics books. My interest right now would be books that are on a undergraduate level, with detailed explanation, examples and problems, but you could also...