[email protected]Thermodynamics of a Single Particle System W. J. Wilson Department of Engineering and Physics University of Central Oklahoma Edmond, OK 73034 2011 Oklahoma Academy of Sciences AnnualTechnical Meeting Southeastern Oklahoma State University Durant, OK November 11, 2011
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[email protected] Thermodynamics of a Single Particle System W. J. Wilson Department of Engineering and Physics University of Central Oklahoma Edmond, OK.
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Thermodynamics of a Particle?Single particle thermodynamics is a bit of an uncharted subject.
Some, steeped in statistical basis of thermodynamics, conclude that the laws of thermodynamics fall apart at the single particle level.
“The law of entropy increasing is only a statistical law; it is not ‘fundamental’ because it cannot describe the behavior of an individual atom or molecule; it deals with the average number of them. Entropy is not a concept that can be meaningfully applied to a single particle, or even to a small number of particles.” – John Wheeler
For a single particle, U = KE+PE = U(x,v) and F = F(x,v) are functions of position and velocity only so if we use the work on system positive sign convention
which becomes for a free(non-relativistic) particle,
• There is an exact differential (“entropy”) for the single particle
ReferencesE.C.G. Stueckelberg and P. B. Scheurer, Thermocinéque Phénoménologique Galiléenne, (Birkhauser, Stuttgart, 1974)
P.E. Williams, On a Possible Formulation of Particle Dynamics in Terms of Thermodynamics Conceptualizations and the Role of Entropy in It (M.S. Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, 1976).