"The second closed system of concepts was formed in the... nineteenth century... with the theory of heat. Though the theory... could finally be connected with mechanics through... statistical mechanics, it... [was not] a part of mechanics. ...[T]he phenomenological theory of heat uses... concepts that have no counterpart in other branches of physics, like: , specific heat, entropy, free energy, etc. If... one goes... to a statistical interpretation... considering heat as energy, distributed statistically among... many degrees of freedom due to... atomic structure of matter, then heat is no more connected with mechanics than with electrodynamics or other parts of physics. The central concept... is... probability, closely connected with the concept of entropy... [T]he statistical theory of heat requires the concept of energy. But any coherent set of axioms and concepts in physics will necessarily contain the concepts of energy, and and the law that these ...must under certain conditions be conserved. This follows if the coherent set is intended to describe... features of nature... correct at all times and everywhere... [i.e.,] features that do not depend on space and time... [i.e.,] that are invariant under arbitrary translations in space and time, s in space and the Galileo or . Therefore, the theory of heat can be combined with any of the other closed systems of concepts."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science (1958)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thermodynamics
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Thermodynamics
55 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Thermodynamics →
Related Quotes
"If two systems are both in thermal equilibrium with a third system, then they are in thermal equilibrium with each ot…"
"In a closed system (i.e. there is no transfer of matter into or out of the system), the first law states that the cha…"
"When two initially isolated systems are combined into a new system, then the total internal energy of the new system,…"
"When two initially isolated systems in separate but nearby regions of space, each in thermodynamic equilibrium with i…"
"According to the second law, in a reversible heat transfer, an element of heat transferred, \delta Q, is the product …"
"A system's entropy approaches a constant value as its temperature approaches absolute zero."
"Every mathematician knows it is impossible to understand an elementary course in thermodynamics."
"In order to consider in the most general way the principle of the production of motion by heat, it must be considered…"
"Machines which do not receive their motion from heat... can be studied even to their smallest details by the mechanic…"
"Isn’t thermodynamics considered a fine intellectual structure, bequeathed by past decades, whose every subtlety only …"