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It took a couple years in college for me to understand entropy. Entropy in classical thermodynamics is presented in a mysterious way that leads to confusion.

It took a couple years in college for me to understand entropy. Entropy in classical thermodynamics is presented in a mysterious way that leads to confusion. Entropy in statistical thermodynamics, however, is logical. Once one understands basic statistical thermodynamics, entropy isn't mysterious. The book in my statistical thermodynamics class was An Introduction to Thermal Physics by Daniel Schroeder, which is an excellent book that I've referred to many times since.

luispauloml 4y ago
I had to study entropy twice in college for different courses that were 2 years apart from each other, and I still remember this one quote I read somewhere: The first time you study entropy, you won't understand it. The second time you study it, you'll think you understood it until you realize you didn't. By the third time you study it, you just don't care anymore and just use it. 10 years after graduating, and I haven't encontered entropy again after the second time, so you can guess where I'm at in this quote. But thank you, for now I know how to attack it if I ever need it again.
- btrettel 4y ago
  Entropy is basically a useful quantity. It's no more mysterious than enthalpy or Gibbs free energy, both of which have also caused me confusion in the past. To me, the issue with entropy is that it's initially presented without clear justification, so people don't know why it's important. Statistical mechanics made it clear to me that the state with the most entropy is the most likely to occur in equilibrium. (Statements about entropy representing "disorder" and whatnot in my opinion are handwavy, often lead to confusion, and should be avoided.)
atemerev 4y ago
I also have chosen entropy for my most memorable grokk! :)
lambdatronics 4y ago
For me, it was approaching it from the information-theoretic perspective. E. T. Jaynes' paper was what made it all click for me: https://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/articles/theory.1.pdf https://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/articles/theory.1.pdf Edit: but that was only after I had grokked Shannon's paper on information theory, which I felt was pretty intuitive.

luispauloml 4y ago

I had to study entropy twice in college for different courses that were 2 years apart from each other, and I still remember this one quote I read somewhere: The first time you study entropy, you won't understand it. The second time you study it, you'll think you understood it until you realize you didn't. By the third time you study it, you just don't care anymore and just use it. 10 years after graduating, and I haven't encontered entropy again after the second time, so you can guess where I'm at in this quote. But thank you, for now I know how to attack it if I ever need it again.

btrettel 4y ago
Entropy is basically a useful quantity. It's no more mysterious than enthalpy or Gibbs free energy, both of which have also caused me confusion in the past. To me, the issue with entropy is that it's initially presented without clear justification, so people don't know why it's important. Statistical mechanics made it clear to me that the state with the most entropy is the most likely to occur in equilibrium. (Statements about entropy representing "disorder" and whatnot in my opinion are handwavy, often lead to confusion, and should be avoided.)

atemerev 4y ago

I also have chosen entropy for my most memorable grokk! :)

lambdatronics 4y ago

For me, it was approaching it from the information-theoretic perspective. E. T. Jaynes' paper was what made it all click for me: https://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/articles/theory.1.pdf https://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/articles/theory.1.pdf Edit: but that was only after I had grokked Shannon's paper on information theory, which I felt was pretty intuitive.