Article ID: CBB986765530

Conceptual polymorphism of entropy into the history: extensions of the second law of thermodynamics towards statistical physics and chemistry during nineteenth–twentieth centuries (2021)

unapi

After the birth of thermodynamics’ second principle—outlined in Carnot's Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu (1824)—several studies provided new arguments in the field. Mainly, they concerned the thermodynamics’ first principle—including energy conceptualisation—, the analytical aspects of the heat propagation, the statistical aspects of the mechanical theory of heat. In other words, the second half of nineteenth century was marked by an intense interdisciplinary research activity between physics and chemistry: new disciplines applied to the heat developed in the form of analytical, mechanical and statistical theories. Inside all these theories, entropy—the brand-new function that Clausius coined in his Mechanical theory of heat—started to play a central epistemic role. In the present paper, we analyse some steps of the historical process of conceptualisation of such function from 1850 to 1902. Particularly, we retrace the historical–foundational path that—starting from Clausius’ Second Law—lead Boltzmann and Gibbs to their distinguished formulations of statistical entropy. As usual, our research has been unrolled through the analyses of primary sources and by leaning on critical readings of the secondary literature. As for the methodological approach, text analysis of historical documents constituted our privileged modus operandi. This paper is the expression of a collaborative historical research program focused on the thermodynamic foundations of physics–chemistry relationship; early results have already been published by the same authors upon the concepts of reversibility––and––thermal equilibrium.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB986765530/

Similar Citations

Book Bartel, Hans-Georg; Huebener, R. P.; (2007)
Walther Nernst: Pioneer of Physics and of Chemistry (/isis/citation/CBB000774127/)

Book Gavroglu, Kostas; (2014)
History of Artificial Cold: Scientific, Technological and Cultural Issues (/isis/citation/CBB001500399/)

Chapter Rowlinson, Sir John S.; (2014)
James Dewar and the Road to the Liquefaction of Hydrogen (/isis/citation/CBB001500405/)

Article Montserrat, Jesús M.; Navarrho, Luis; (2000)
The atomistic view of heat in Lucretius (/isis/citation/CBB000111299/)

Book Alexander Pechenkin; (2018)
The History of Research on Chemical Periodic Processes (/isis/citation/CBB757079672/)

Book Clarke, Bruce; Henderson, Linda Dalrymple; (2002)
From Energy to Information: Representation in Science and Technology, Art, and Literature (/isis/citation/CBB000301723/)

Article Bordoni, Stafano; (2013)
Routes Towards an Abstract Thermodynamics in the Late Nineteenth Century (/isis/citation/CBB001320791/)

Book Badino, Massimiliano; (2010)
Il professore e il suo demone: La lunga lotta di Max Planck contro la statistica (1896--1906) (/isis/citation/CBB001252424/)

Article Neswald, Elizabeth; (2009)
Ansätze zu einer Kulturgeschichte der Entropie (/isis/citation/CBB001023440/)

Book Lewis, Christopher J. T.; (2007)
Heat and Thermodynamics: A Historical Perspective (/isis/citation/CBB000700847/)

Article William B. Jensen; (2013)
George Downing Liveing and the Origins of Chemical Thermodynamics in Great Britain (/isis/citation/CBB441773857/)

Article Wisniak, Jaime; (2000)
Johannes Jacobus Van Laar Unappreciated Scientist (/isis/citation/CBB001252519/)

Chapter Vermeer, Leonieke; (2010)
Coping with Entropy: Utopian Reactions to the Second Law of the Thermodynamics (1860--1920) (/isis/citation/CBB001021561/)

Article Wisniak, Jaime; (2001)
Frederick Thomas Trouton: The Man, the Rule, and the Ratio (/isis/citation/CBB001252524/)

Article Axel Petit; (2016)
Associating Physics and Chemistry to Dissociate Molecules (/isis/citation/CBB865145187/)

Article Deltete, Robert J.; (2012)
Planck, Ostwald, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics (/isis/citation/CBB001232112/)

Book Neswald, Elisabeth R.; (2006)
Thermodynamik als kultureller Kampfplatz: Zur Faszinationsgeschichteder Entropie, 1850--1915 (/isis/citation/CBB000740241/)

Authors & Contributors
Wisniak, Jaime
Francesco Ghelli
Axel Petit
Dais, Photis
Rowlinson, Sir John S.
Vermeer, Leonieke
Concepts
Physics
Thermodynamics
Chemistry
Theories of heat
Entropy
Science and culture
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
Ancient
18th century
17th century
Places
United States
Europe
Scotland
Netherlands
Russia
Greece
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment