Timeline for The "geometry" of thermodynamics
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 14, 2023 at 19:51 | comment | added | robphy | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_geometry Related: physics.stackexchange.com/questions/388318/… and mathoverflow.net/questions/297790/… | |
| May 14, 2023 at 19:50 | comment | added | FlatterMann | I believe that pretty much every undergrad who takes general relativity and thermodynamics at the same time discovers the geometric connection... but in practice it is fairly useless because you simply don't know the shape of your manifold unless you are in the business of working in a steam power plant for which the thermodynamics functions have been painstakingly measured over the course of a century. Yes, it's geometric... so what? We don't know the geometry and there is no way to calculate it from first principles. | |
| May 14, 2023 at 19:42 | answer | added | hyportnex | timeline score: 3 | |
| May 14, 2023 at 19:33 | comment | added | GiorgioP-DoomsdayClockIsAt-90 | Thermodynamics could be formulated in terms of differential geometry, but it is worse than trying to kill a mosquito with a cannon. The typical domain of thermodynamic functions is a cone, and "simple" real analysis in $\mathbb{R}^n$ is enough. | |
| May 14, 2023 at 19:16 | history | edited | Tobias Fünke |
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| May 14, 2023 at 19:16 | comment | added | Tobias Fünke | Yes, thermodynamics can be formulated in the language of differential geometry! "The Geometry of Physics" by Frankel discusses that. Also in "The statistical theory of Heat" by Scheck there is a chapter discussing this approach. | |
| May 14, 2023 at 19:14 | comment | added | naturallyInconsistent | Differential geometry is not too helpful (but yes, geometrical thinking should help). Those manipulations are all partial derivatives identities and Maxwell's relations. The front part of Callen is just ridiculously difficult to read, but so rewarding whenever you understand any little bit. I do not remember enough to sort this out, but I think you will eventually be able to sort it out yourself. | |
| May 14, 2023 at 18:42 | history | asked | EE18 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |