✎ Statistical Mechanics [The Physics Travel Guide]

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====== Statistical Mechanics ======

Statistical mechanics is a framework that allows us to describe systems with many degrees of freedom, although we don't know all the microscopic details. For example, using statistical mechanics, we can describe a gas or a block of metal, although we don't know all individual atom configurations.

**Important Related Concepts:**

* [[basic_notions:entropy]]
  * [[theories:thermodynamics]]
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Explanations in this section should contain no formulas, but instead colloquial things like you would hear them during a coffee break or at a cocktail party.
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**Recommended Resources:**

* [[http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/9133/2/What_is_SM.pdf|What is Statistical Mechanics?]] by Roman Frigg 
  * See also [[https://github.com/rht/phython/blob/master/review/statmech.pdf|this review]], and [[https://github.com/rht/phython/blob/master/review/statmech2.pdf|part 2]].
  * A great explanation how one can derive the Boltzmann distribution from the principle of maximal entropy is given at page 3 in https://arxiv.org/pdf/1311.0813.pdf
  * Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics by F. Reif
 
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**Recommended Resources:**

* http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/sft.html

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