The Nature of Irreversibility : A Study of Its Dynamics and Physical Origins

H B Hollinger

ISBN 10: 9027720800 / ISBN 13: 9789027720801

Verlag: Springer Sep 1985, 1985

Beschreibung

Neuware - A dominant feature of our ordinary experience of the world is a sense of irreversible change: things lose form, people grow old, energy dissipates. On the other hand, a major conceptual scheme we use to describe the natural world, molecular dynamics, has reversibility at its core. The need to harmonize conceptual schemes and experience leads to several questions, one of which is the focus of this book. How does irreversibility at the macroscopic level emerge from the reversibility that prevails at the molecular level Attempts to explain the emergence have emphasized probability, and assigned different probabilities to the forward and reversed directions of processes so that one direction is far more probable than the other. The conclu sion is promising, but the reasons for it have been obscure. In many cases the aim has been to find an explana tion in the nature of probability itself. Reactions to that have been divided: some think the aim is justified while others think it is absurd.

Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 9789027720801

Bibliografische Details

• Titel: The Nature of Irreversibility : A Study of Its Dynamics and Physical Origins
• Verlag: Springer Sep 1985
• Erscheinungsjahr: 1985
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN-10: 9027720800
• ISBN-13: 9789027720801
• Einband: Buch
• Zustand: Neu
• Abmessungen: 229B x 152 H x 24 T Millimeter Breite: 229 mm, Höhe: 152 mm, Tiefe: 24 mm
• Gewicht: 689 Gramm

Über diesen Titel

Inhaltsangabe

A dominant feature of our ordinary experience of the world is a sense of irreversible change: things lose form, people grow old, energy dissipates. On the other hand, a major conceptual scheme we use to describe the natural world, molecular dynamics, has reversibility at its core. The need to harmonize conceptual schemes and experience leads to several questions, one of which is the focus of this book. How does irreversibility at the macroscopic level emerge from the reversibility that prevails at the molecular level? Attempts to explain the emergence have emphasized probability, and assigned different probabilities to the forward and reversed directions of processes so that one direction is far more probable than the other. The conclu­ sion is promising, but the reasons for it have been obscure. In many cases the aim has been to find an explana­ tion in the nature of probability itself. Reactions to that have been divided: some think the aim is justified while others think it is absurd.