Ambiguity in the definition of entropyHow are possible microstates discerned in Gibb's entropy formula?Statistical interpretation of EntropyEntropy as an arrow of timeWhat precisely does the 2nd law of thermo state, considering that entropy depends on how we define macrostate?The statistical interpretation of EntropyWhat is the cause for the inclusion of 'thermal equilibrium' in the statement of Ergodic hypothesis?Do the results of statistical mechanics depend upon the choice of macrostates?Entropy definition, additivity, laws in different ensemblesDefinition of entropy and other StatMech variablesWhat is the definition of entropy in microcanonical ensemble?

How do I exit BASH while loop using modulus operator?

Why were 5.25" floppy drives cheaper than 8"?

What is a Samsaran Word™?

how do we prove that a sum of two periods is still a period?

Bullying boss launched a smear campaign and made me unemployable

Unlock My Phone! February 2018

Notepad++ delete until colon for every line with replace all

Can someone clarify Hamming's notion of important problems in relation to modern academia?

How exploitable/balanced is this homebrew spell: Spell Permanency?

Placement of More Information/Help Icon button for Radio Buttons

files created then deleted at every second in tmp directory

How to coordinate airplane tickets?

Is it possible to map the firing of neurons in the human brain so as to stimulate artificial memories in someone else?

Did 'Cinema Songs' exist during Hiranyakshipu's time?

Partial fraction expansion confusion

What reasons are there for a Capitalist to oppose a 100% inheritance tax?

Can compressed videos be decoded back to their uncompresed original format?

Is there a hemisphere-neutral way of specifying a season?

What exactly is ineptocracy?

My ex-girlfriend uses my Apple ID to log in to her iPad. Do I have to give her my Apple ID password to reset it?

Why do I get negative height?

GFCI outlets - can they be repaired? Are they really needed at the end of a circuit?

Could neural networks be considered metaheuristics?

What does the same-ish mean?



Ambiguity in the definition of entropy


How are possible microstates discerned in Gibb's entropy formula?Statistical interpretation of EntropyEntropy as an arrow of timeWhat precisely does the 2nd law of thermo state, considering that entropy depends on how we define macrostate?The statistical interpretation of EntropyWhat is the cause for the inclusion of 'thermal equilibrium' in the statement of Ergodic hypothesis?Do the results of statistical mechanics depend upon the choice of macrostates?Entropy definition, additivity, laws in different ensemblesDefinition of entropy and other StatMech variablesWhat is the definition of entropy in microcanonical ensemble?













1












$begingroup$


The entropy $S$ of a system is defined as $$S = kln Omega.$$ What precisely is $Omega$? It refers to "the number of microstates" of the system, but is this the number of all accessible microstates or just the number of microstates corresponding to the systems current macrostate? Or is it something else that eludes me?










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$
















    1












    $begingroup$


    The entropy $S$ of a system is defined as $$S = kln Omega.$$ What precisely is $Omega$? It refers to "the number of microstates" of the system, but is this the number of all accessible microstates or just the number of microstates corresponding to the systems current macrostate? Or is it something else that eludes me?










    share|cite|improve this question











    $endgroup$














      1












      1








      1





      $begingroup$


      The entropy $S$ of a system is defined as $$S = kln Omega.$$ What precisely is $Omega$? It refers to "the number of microstates" of the system, but is this the number of all accessible microstates or just the number of microstates corresponding to the systems current macrostate? Or is it something else that eludes me?










      share|cite|improve this question











      $endgroup$




      The entropy $S$ of a system is defined as $$S = kln Omega.$$ What precisely is $Omega$? It refers to "the number of microstates" of the system, but is this the number of all accessible microstates or just the number of microstates corresponding to the systems current macrostate? Or is it something else that eludes me?







      statistical-mechanics entropy






      share|cite|improve this question















      share|cite|improve this question













      share|cite|improve this question




      share|cite|improve this question








      edited 36 mins ago







      PiKindOfGuy

















      asked 1 hour ago









      PiKindOfGuyPiKindOfGuy

      596622




      596622




















          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          5












          $begingroup$

          Entropy is a property of a macrostate, not a system. So $Omega$ is the number of microstates that correspond to the macrostate in question.



          Since it is almost always the change in entropy, not the absolute entropy, that is considered, and we're taking the log of $Omega$, it actually doesn't matter if the definition of S is ambiguous up to a constant multiplicative factor, as that will cancel out when we take dS.






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$




















            3












            $begingroup$

            Corresponding to the current macrostate. The principle of entropy is that a system seeks out the macro state that has the most microstates in it: in other words, our uncertainty about the underlying state of the system keeps multiplying and multiplying, until, with certain assumptions, we cannot do much better than just choosing a microstate uniformly at random.






            share|cite|improve this answer









            $endgroup$













              Your Answer





              StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function ()
              return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function ()
              StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix)
              StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
              );
              );
              , "mathjax-editing");

              StackExchange.ready(function()
              var channelOptions =
              tags: "".split(" "),
              id: "151"
              ;
              initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

              StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
              // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
              if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
              StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
              createEditor();
              );

              else
              createEditor();

              );

              function createEditor()
              StackExchange.prepareEditor(
              heartbeatType: 'answer',
              autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
              convertImagesToLinks: false,
              noModals: true,
              showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
              reputationToPostImages: null,
              bindNavPrevention: true,
              postfix: "",
              imageUploader:
              brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
              contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
              allowUrls: true
              ,
              noCode: true, onDemand: true,
              discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
              ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
              );



              );













              draft saved

              draft discarded


















              StackExchange.ready(
              function ()
              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fphysics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f470202%2fambiguity-in-the-definition-of-entropy%23new-answer', 'question_page');

              );

              Post as a guest















              Required, but never shown

























              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes








              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes









              active

              oldest

              votes






              active

              oldest

              votes









              5












              $begingroup$

              Entropy is a property of a macrostate, not a system. So $Omega$ is the number of microstates that correspond to the macrostate in question.



              Since it is almost always the change in entropy, not the absolute entropy, that is considered, and we're taking the log of $Omega$, it actually doesn't matter if the definition of S is ambiguous up to a constant multiplicative factor, as that will cancel out when we take dS.






              share|cite|improve this answer









              $endgroup$

















                5












                $begingroup$

                Entropy is a property of a macrostate, not a system. So $Omega$ is the number of microstates that correspond to the macrostate in question.



                Since it is almost always the change in entropy, not the absolute entropy, that is considered, and we're taking the log of $Omega$, it actually doesn't matter if the definition of S is ambiguous up to a constant multiplicative factor, as that will cancel out when we take dS.






                share|cite|improve this answer









                $endgroup$















                  5












                  5








                  5





                  $begingroup$

                  Entropy is a property of a macrostate, not a system. So $Omega$ is the number of microstates that correspond to the macrostate in question.



                  Since it is almost always the change in entropy, not the absolute entropy, that is considered, and we're taking the log of $Omega$, it actually doesn't matter if the definition of S is ambiguous up to a constant multiplicative factor, as that will cancel out when we take dS.






                  share|cite|improve this answer









                  $endgroup$



                  Entropy is a property of a macrostate, not a system. So $Omega$ is the number of microstates that correspond to the macrostate in question.



                  Since it is almost always the change in entropy, not the absolute entropy, that is considered, and we're taking the log of $Omega$, it actually doesn't matter if the definition of S is ambiguous up to a constant multiplicative factor, as that will cancel out when we take dS.







                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  share|cite|improve this answer



                  share|cite|improve this answer










                  answered 47 mins ago









                  AcccumulationAcccumulation

                  2,774312




                  2,774312





















                      3












                      $begingroup$

                      Corresponding to the current macrostate. The principle of entropy is that a system seeks out the macro state that has the most microstates in it: in other words, our uncertainty about the underlying state of the system keeps multiplying and multiplying, until, with certain assumptions, we cannot do much better than just choosing a microstate uniformly at random.






                      share|cite|improve this answer









                      $endgroup$

















                        3












                        $begingroup$

                        Corresponding to the current macrostate. The principle of entropy is that a system seeks out the macro state that has the most microstates in it: in other words, our uncertainty about the underlying state of the system keeps multiplying and multiplying, until, with certain assumptions, we cannot do much better than just choosing a microstate uniformly at random.






                        share|cite|improve this answer









                        $endgroup$















                          3












                          3








                          3





                          $begingroup$

                          Corresponding to the current macrostate. The principle of entropy is that a system seeks out the macro state that has the most microstates in it: in other words, our uncertainty about the underlying state of the system keeps multiplying and multiplying, until, with certain assumptions, we cannot do much better than just choosing a microstate uniformly at random.






                          share|cite|improve this answer









                          $endgroup$



                          Corresponding to the current macrostate. The principle of entropy is that a system seeks out the macro state that has the most microstates in it: in other words, our uncertainty about the underlying state of the system keeps multiplying and multiplying, until, with certain assumptions, we cannot do much better than just choosing a microstate uniformly at random.







                          share|cite|improve this answer












                          share|cite|improve this answer



                          share|cite|improve this answer










                          answered 46 mins ago









                          CR DrostCR Drost

                          22.5k11961




                          22.5k11961



























                              draft saved

                              draft discarded
















































                              Thanks for contributing an answer to Physics Stack Exchange!


                              • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                              But avoid


                              • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                              • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

                              Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


                              To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                              draft saved


                              draft discarded














                              StackExchange.ready(
                              function ()
                              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fphysics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f470202%2fambiguity-in-the-definition-of-entropy%23new-answer', 'question_page');

                              );

                              Post as a guest















                              Required, but never shown





















































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown

































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown







                              Popular posts from this blog

                              Are there any AGPL-style licences that require source code modifications to be public? Planned maintenance scheduled April 23, 2019 at 23:30 UTC (7:30pm US/Eastern) Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara Unicorn Meta Zoo #1: Why another podcast?Force derivative works to be publicAre there any GPL like licenses for Apple App Store?Do you violate the GPL if you provide source code that cannot be compiled?GPL - is it distribution to use libraries in an appliance loaned to customers?Distributing App for free which uses GPL'ed codeModifications of server software under GPL, with web/CLI interfaceDoes using an AGPLv3-licensed library prevent me from dual-licensing my own source code?Can I publish only select code under GPLv3 from a private project?Is there published precedent regarding the scope of covered work that uses AGPL software?If MIT licensed code links to GPL licensed code what should be the license of the resulting binary program?If I use a public API endpoint that has its source code licensed under AGPL in my app, do I need to disclose my source?

                              2013 GY136 Descoberta | Órbita | Referências Menu de navegação«List Of Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects»«List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects»

                              Metrô de Los Teques Índice Linhas | Estações | Ver também | Referências Ligações externas | Menu de navegação«INSTITUCIÓN»«Mapa de rutas»originalMetrô de Los TequesC.A. Metro Los Teques |Alcaldía de Guaicaipuro – Sitio OficialGobernacion de Mirandaeeeeeee