28: Statistical Mechanics

In his book, Fermi (1937) goes on to say how the original view of heat as some kind of fluid was eventually supplanted by the notion of the “ — equivalence of heat and dynamical energy” which is to be sought in the kinetic interpretation, which reduces all thermal phenomena to the disordered motion of atoms and molecules. — However, what’s involved is “ — the mechanics of an ensemble of such an enormous number of particles (atoms or molecules) that the detailed description of the state and the motion loses importance and only average properties of large numbers of particles are to be considered”…