Abstract
MANY macroscopic quantities have microscopic counterparts. The microscopic counterpart of gas pressure, for example, is the instantaneous mechanical force exerted by gas molecules on a unit area. In the analysis of such physical quantities the role of statistical mechanics is conceptually straightforward; it is the calculation of average (macroscopic) values < A > for selected microscopic mechanical quantities A. Such calculations have contributed a great deal to our understanding of the form taken by the equation of state for various materials placed in different environments1.
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References
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KORNACKER, K. Theory of Inherently Macroscopic Processes, with Application to Heat and Active Transport. Nature 219, 1283–1284 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/2191283a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2191283a0
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