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Statistical Mechanics - Maximizing entropy

After reviewing the laws of thermodynamics, Professor Susskind begins the derivation of how energy states are distributed for a complex system system with many energy states. As the number of particles in a system grows, the distribution of states clumps more tightly around a mean. This is the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. The derivation requires Sterling's approximation and Lagrange multipliers.

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  • Created November 1, 2013 by
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  • Modified November 1, 2013 by
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