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kelly0303
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Hello! Could you please recommend me some good books about entropy for physics enthusiasts (someone who doesn't know physics but wants to learn about this)? Thank you!
Thank you. I see in the Amazon description: "It can be used as a supplementary material for teaching thermodynamics and statistical physics at an undergraduate or postgraduate level and can be a great read for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Sciences and Engineering." Would this be suitable for someone who doesn't know physics?Demystifier said:Entropy Demystified by Ben-Naim
https://www.amazon.com/dp/9812700528/?tag=pfamazon01-20
Thank you. By looking at the content it looks quite advanced for someone with no physics background. Are you sure it is suitable for that? I was looking more for a book similar to "A Brief History of Time".Lord Jestocost said:I would recommend to start with Harvey S. Leff's website "All about energy and entropy".
http://energyandentropy.com/index.html
I think it would, because it doesn't contain much math. It's quite intuitive and is largely based on common sense.kelly0303 said:Thank you. I see in the Amazon description: "It can be used as a supplementary material for teaching thermodynamics and statistical physics at an undergraduate or postgraduate level and can be a great read for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Sciences and Engineering." Would this be suitable for someone who doesn't know physics?
Entropy is a measure of the disorder or randomness in a system. In physics, it is a fundamental concept that helps us understand the direction and efficiency of processes, such as heat transfer and chemical reactions.
Some popular books on entropy for physics enthusiasts include "The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction" by Peter Atkins, "Entropy Demystified: The Second Law Reduced to Plain Common Sense" by Arieh Ben-Naim, and "From Microphysics to Macrophysics: Methods and Applications of Statistical Physics" by Roger Balian.
The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a closed system will always increase over time. This means that systems tend towards a state of maximum entropy, or maximum disorder. Entropy is therefore closely related to the second law of thermodynamics as it quantifies the amount of disorder in a system.
In a closed system, the total entropy will always increase over time, meaning it cannot be reversed or decreased. However, in an open system, such as living organisms, entropy can be decreased locally by expending energy to create order. This is why living organisms can maintain a high level of organization despite the overall increase in entropy in the universe.
The arrow of time refers to the unidirectional flow of time from the past to the future. Entropy is closely related to the arrow of time as it increases in a closed system, indicating the direction of time. This is because the increase in entropy leads to a decrease in the amount of usable energy, making it difficult to reverse the processes that have already occurred.