Wiktionary
n. (context physics English) The branch of physics that uses statistical laws to make theoretical predictions about macroscopic systems of particles.
WordNet
n. the branch of physics that makes theoretical predictions about the behavior of macroscopic systems on the basis of statistical laws governing its component particles
Wikipedia
Statistical mechanics is a branch of theoretical physics that studies, using probability theory, the average behaviour of a mechanical system where the state of the system is uncertain.
A common use of statistical mechanics is in explaining the thermodynamic behaviour of large systems. This branch of statistical mechanics which treats and extends classical thermodynamics is known as statistical thermodynamics or equilibrium statistical mechanics. Microscopic mechanical laws do not contain concepts such as temperature, heat, or entropy; however, statistical mechanics shows how these concepts arise from the natural uncertainty about the state of a system when that system is prepared in practice. The benefit of using statistical mechanics is that it provides exact methods to connect thermodynamic quantities (such as heat capacity) to microscopic behaviour, whereas, in classical thermodynamics, the only available option would be to just measure and tabulate such quantities for various materials. Statistical mechanics also makes it possible to extend the laws of thermodynamics to cases which are not considered in classical thermodynamics, such as microscopic systems and other mechanical systems with few degrees of freedom.
Statistical mechanics also finds use outside equilibrium. An important subbranch known as non-equilibrium statistical mechanics deals with the issue of microscopically modelling the speed of irreversible processes that are driven by imbalances. Examples of such processes include chemical reactions or flows of particles and heat. Unlike with equilibrium, there is no exact formalism that applies to non-equilibrium statistical mechanics in general, and so this branch of statistical mechanics remains an active area of theoretical research.
Usage examples of "statistical mechanics".
Thermodynamic entropy, statistical mechanics entropy, information theory entropy, kernel horizon entropy-which one is Wolfman’.
From 1902 to 1904 he produced a series of papers on statistical mechanics only to discover that the quietly productive J.
The statistical mechanics involved are not those of particles and collisions, as in a gas, but in the language of social macro-groups, acting through collisions with other such macro-groups.
The statistical mechanics involved are not those of particles and collisions, as in a gas, but in the language of social macro-groups, acting through “.
All the meaningless analogy with thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, and all the talk of superior approaches.
Aybee listed four ways of thinking about entropy: thermodynamic entropy, statistical mechanics entropy, information theory entropy, and kernel entropy.
Bose combined his work in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics with the quantum mechanical theories that were being developed, and Einstein carried the work to its natural conclusions and brought it to the public eye.