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Boltzmann's entropy formula—carved on his gravestone. [1]In statistical mechanics, Boltzmann's entropy formula (also known as the Boltzmann–Planck equation, not to be confused with the more general Boltzmann equation, which is a partial differential equation) is a probability equation relating the entropy, also written as , of an ideal gas to the multiplicity (commonly denoted as or ), the ...
Boltzmann constant: The Boltzmann constant, k, is one of seven fixed constants defining the International System of Units, the SI, with k = 1.380 649 x 10 −23 J K −1. The Boltzmann constant is a proportionality constant between the quantities temperature (with unit kelvin) and energy (with unit joule).
The proportionality constant k B is one of the fundamental constants of physics and is named the Boltzmann constant in honor of its discoverer. Boltzmann's entropy describes the system when all the accessible microstates are equally likely. It is the configuration corresponding to the maximum of entropy at equilibrium.
Furthermore, the prescription to find the equilibrium distributions of statistical mechanics—such as the Boltzmann distribution—by maximising the Gibbs entropy subject to appropriate constraints (the Gibbs algorithm) can be seen as something not unique to thermodynamics, but as a principle of general relevance in statistical inference, if ...
The constant of proportionality is the Boltzmann constant. The Boltzmann constant, and therefore entropy, have dimensions of energy divided by temperature, which has a unit of joules per kelvin (J⋅K −1) in the International System of Units (or kg⋅m 2 ⋅s −2 ⋅K −1 in terms of base units).
His pioneering work in statistical mechanics and thermodynamics laid the foundation for some of the most fundamental concepts in physics. For instance, Max Planck in quantizing resonators in his Black Body theory of radiation used the Boltzmann constant to describe the entropy of the system to arrive at his formula in 1900. [41]
where is the thermodynamic entropy of a particular macrostate (defined by thermodynamic parameters such as temperature, volume, energy, etc.), W is the number of microstates (various combinations of particles in various energy states) that can yield the given macrostate, and k B is the Boltzmann constant. [19]
The entropy of a closed system, determined relative to this zero point, is then the absolute entropy of that system. Mathematically, the absolute entropy of any system at zero temperature is the natural log of the number of ground states times the Boltzmann constant k B = 1.38 × 10 −23 J K −1.