Boltzmann Equation Notes

Boltzmann Equation for Entropy: $S = k_{B} \ln W$

Lindsey Chheng 1E
Posts: 110
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:16 am

Boltzmann Equation Notes

In the notes after the Boltzmann Equation, it says "Thermodynamic Property ('small' error in S)" and "Statistical ('large' error in W)". What does this mean?

Sebastian Lee 1L
Posts: 157
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:15 am
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Re: Boltzmann Equation Notes

All this means is that in the Boltzmann Equation $S=k_{B}lnW$, if you have a large error in W (degeneracy), you're not going to have much of an error in S (entropy). So you might have a large difference in values you get for W, but once you take the natural log and multiply by the Boltzmann constant, the values you get for S won't be very different even though you had very different W values.

Ryan 1K
Posts: 101
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:15 am

Re: Boltzmann Equation Notes

Why did he write statistical? How does it relate to error in W?

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