Applications of the Concept Of Entropy

Abstract

In Chapter 1 we discussed the significance of the concept of entropy in classical thermodynamics, in Chapter 2 its significance in statistical thermodynamics. This chapter gives a series of examples demonstrating the importance of the role played by entropy in widely divergent fields of physics, chemistry and technology. The examples have been chosen more or less at random and represent a selection from a much larger number of possibilities. One of the finest examples, viz. the accurate calculation of equilibria in gases by the methods of statistical thermodynamics, cannot be dealt with until the last chapter.