Sunday, August 11, 2013

Appendix 1.2 Entropy

Now we need to get some fundamentals sorted out.. particularly concerning the two equations used for calculating entropy which have been all mixed up thanks to the very distorted article in the Wikipedia. I tried to fix it.. I really did but the self proclaimed 'moderator'.. used his knowledge of physics to put up a smoke screen of techno-bable to fend me off... all I can say is..   I'LL BE BACK.!

1. Entropy is a STATE variable meaning its absolute value is independent of the path by which it got there.. we know this from the Boltzmann Gibbs equation for absolute entropy which reveals it is directly (not linearly) and exclusively based on the probability of that particular state existing.

The Rudolf Clausius 'heat' equation is the integral sum (meaning by infinitesimally small amounts added up) of heat crossing a system boundary divided by the temperature at that point and moment on the boundary. It calculates the CHANGE in entropy of the system inside the boundary for a given quantity of heat transferred. Heat IN is positive increasing entropy, heart OUT is negative decreases entropy. Not only does this not say anything about the absolute entropy of the system but it totally misses logical states like semantic information such as a book or molecule of DNA.

The problem with absolute entropy is the calculation of the thermodynamic probability term "W". It requires the IDENTIFICATION of every particle or logical place holder in the system and the calculation for each state called a macro-state {set of energy states or logical sequences} the entire count of all possible combinations when every particle is swapped with every other particle in the system.. which is mind bogglingly big for any more than a few particles.

Engineers are mostly interested in the change of entropy during a process anyway so Clausius is the big winner here. His equation came in about 1865 just in time for the industrial revolution and steam power where it was needed most.

more to come

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