"Thermodynamics is more like a mode of reasoning than a body of physical law. ...we can think of thermodynamics as a certain pattern of arrows that occurs again and again in very different physical contexts, but, wherever this pattern of explanation occurs, the arrows can be traced back by the methods of statistical mechanics to deeper laws and ultimately to the principles of elementary particle physics. ...the fact that a scientific theory finds applications to a wide variety of different phenomena does not imply anything about the autonomy of this theory from deeper physical laws."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Steven Weinberg, Dreams of a Final Theory (1992)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Statistical_mechanics
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Statistical mechanics
27 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Statistical mechanics →
Related Quotes
"Another crucial point is that MOND as we know it now is arguably only an approximate 'effective field theory' that ap…"
"With the growing importance of models in statistical mechanics and in field theory, the path integral method of Feynm…"
"There is an interesting analogy... with the philosophy of the natural sciences, which has flourished under the combin…"
"The idea behind the Feynman path integral goes back to a paper by P. A. M. Dirac published in 1933 in Physikalische Z…"
"The need for a fundamentally different approach to the study of physical processes at the molecular level motivated t…"
"The kinetic theory of gases is a small branch of physics which has passed from the stage of excitement and novelty in…"
"As the natural sciences have developed to encompass increasingly s, scientific rationality has become ever more stati…"
"The rapid development of quantum mechanics stimulated research in and theory. Initiated during the mid-twenties, inte…"
"The path integral is a formulation of quantum mechanics equivalent to the standard formulations, offering a new way o…"
"You should call it entropy, for two reasons. In the first place your uncertainty function has been used in statistica…"