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

Hollinger, H. B.; Zenzen, M.

ISBN 10: 9027720800 / ISBN 13: 9789027720801

Verlag: Springer, 1985

Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers G9027720800I3N00

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.

Bibliografische Details

Titel: The Nature of Irreversibility: A Study of ...
Verlag: Springer
Erscheinungsdatum: 1985
Einband: Hardcover
Zustand: Good
Zustand des Schutzumschlags: No Jacket