flâneur

The Entropy of A Markov Chain - by CasualPhysicsEnjoyer

chillphysicsenjoyer.substack.com · 1,431 words · saved by 1 readers

A more explicit example

Clausius (1865)¹ defines a quantity called entropy. By decomposing physical processes as a chain of engines, he shows that entropy always increases for irreversible processes. For reversible processes like Carnot's ideal engine, the change in entropy is zero. But when an irreversible process occurs, entropy can never decrease unless energy is applied to a system. This is what is known as the second law of thermodynamics. And whilst entropy itself may not be measurable with a thermometer or ruler, it is still a useful concept since we can calculate derived quantities from it that are…

saved by

related reading