Why Was It Significant to Discover Black Hole Entropy and Temperature?

[Islam Hassan]

In thermodynamics, I assume that any closed system that can be described in terms of individual objects/particles and their associated individual momenta has both entropy and temperature. A priori a black hole seems to me to fit that description of a closed system.

Why was it significant then, to have discovered that black holes can have entropy and temperature? Why, prior to this discovery, did we postulate that perhaps they didn't?


IH

 

[mfb]

In thermodynamics, I assume that any closed system that can be described in terms of individual objects/particles and their associated individual momenta has both entropy and temperature.

It can have a different temperature at different locations, or the entropy could be zero.

 

[Islam Hassan]

It can have a different temperature at different locations, or the entropy could be zero.

Ok, it seems I have a fundamental misunderstanding of what entropy is and is not; the wiki articles are relatively formula-heavy on this matter, would you have a more accessible reference on the matter, and especially on systems that exhibit zero entropy?


IH

 

[mfb]

As an example, every system in its ground-state has zero entropy, if there is just a single ground state.

We have a textbook forum and collections of learning materials if the overview in the wikipedia article does not help.