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When I did my physics undergrad I skipped thermodynamics and went straight to statistical mechanics, so forgive me if I missed something. Ostensibly, it would s
by rxhernandez 9y ago
When I did my physics undergrad I skipped thermodynamics and went straight to statistical mechanics, so forgive me if I missed something. Ostensibly, it would seem a classical version of thermodynamics wouldn't deal with particles at all as the current model of particles(even Bohr's model) is much newer than classical thermodynamics.
- readams 9y agoBy "classical" it's reasonable to assume they mean "not quantum"
- rxhernandez 9y agoThat and my lack of a thermo class is why I prefaced it with ostensibly.
- comicjk 9y agoA "particle" in statistical thermodynamics is a mathematical idea that doesn't necessarily match any fundamental particle in physics. For example, air is made of molecules with complex quantum bonding states, yet many of air's properties can be derived by considering it simply as a collection of point masses.
- llamaz 9y agoi.e. a Green's function (disclaimer: I know more about maths than physics)
- kgwgk 9y agoThe current model of particles is also newer than statistical mechanics. Clausius, Maxwell, Boltzmann and Gibbs were all dead by the time Bohr’s model appeared.
- wyager 9y agoClassical thermo (as I learned it in undergrad) works in terms of quantized oscillators, which actually works quite well with quantum mechanics.
- madhadron 9y agoOh dear. This is a common problem. Classical thermodynamics is a theory in its own right. Statistical mechanics is used to bridge microscopic structure to thermodynamic properties. Unfortunately, physicists don't learn thermodynamics. It's pretty much only taught to mechanical and chemical engineers.
- kgwgk 9y agoThe classical [statistical mechanics] theory is based on classical harmonic oscillators (which can have any frequency/energy). Quantization is introduced by Plank in 1900.