Re: Penrose and Entropy

In article <YFpMg.2653$MF1.125@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Perplexed in Peoria" <jimmenegay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"rev.goetz" <jimgoetz316@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1157768151.751639.139860@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Timberwoof wrote:
In article <1157726806.650693.27470@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"rev.goetz" <jimgoetz316@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Roger Penrose calculates entropy by the number of photons per baryon.
And whenever I asked a physics graduate student about this, they where
not sure why. I wonder if it makes more sense to calculate entropy by
the number of photons per gluon. Does anybody know why Penrose
calculates entropy by the number of photons per baryon?

James

Try reading his book, "The Road to Reality." I just read the chapter on
thermodynamics the other day. I guess I better go read it again. :-)

I tried:)

It is a math(s) book, not a physics book.

It took me some effort to get past the first third of the book, too.

But you won't learn much
math there either. But you will learn what kinds of math you will
need to learn in order to do mathematical physics at Penrose's level.

I think I understand only part of what he's getting at in some of the
chapters, but it's clear to me that if you don't understand the math,
then you don't really understand the physics. (That's the general you,
not the specific.) Without the math, Newton's law of Gravity can only be
stated like this: "Things that have mass attract each other. The heavier
they are, the more the attraction. The closer they are, the really extra
more the attraction. If you set things up just right, you can get two
things that have mass to spin around each other."

I could describe Maxwell's equations like that, but it would be silly
and confusing, and the connection between Polaroid sunglasses and an
old-fashioned TV antenna would still be mysterious.

--
Timberwoof <me at timberwoof dot com> http://www.timberwoof.com
Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all.

.

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