A Student's Guide to Entropy

Effrosyni Seitaridou

Citation: American Journal of Physics 83, 383 (2015); doi: 10.1119/1.4901452

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Published by the American Association of Physics Teachers

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BOOK REVIEWS
The downloaded PDF for any Review in this section contains all the Reviews in this section.

Craig F. Bohren, Editor

Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802; mailing address: P.O. Box 887, Boalsburg, PA 16827; [email protected]

Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed second part of the book is a semi-historical account of
the Search for Scientific Truth. Jim Baggott. 338 pp. modern theoretical physics and cosmology, from special rel-
Pegasus Books, New York. 2014. Price: $15.95 (paper). ativity and early quantum theory to the Higgs boson and
ISBN 978-1-60598-574-9 (Helge Kragh, Reviewer.) dark energy. Although brief, the account is informative and
covers many of the discoveries made in fundamental physics
During the last few decades ambitious theories of funda- during more than a century. I found very few errors, among
mental physics with little or no connection to experiment them the description of Dutch physicist Paul Ehrenfest as an
have been strongly criticized from a methodological point of Austrian. The more critical part of the book focuses on con-
view. Objections to string theory, supersymmetry, many- cepts and theories that are not (yet?) parts of the generally
worlds quantum mechanics, multiverse theories, and the accepted world view, such as supersymmetry, grand unifica-
anthropic principle come from within the physics community tion, superstrings, multiverse, the holographic principle, and
as well as outside it. The best known example of the genre the anthropic principle. Baggott generally and sensibly
may be Peter Woit’s best-selling Not Even Wrong from 2006, objects that theories of this kind are not testable in the ordi-
which specifically was aimed against the theory of super- nary sense and, for this and other reasons, may perhaps better
strings. British science writer Jim Baggott likewise argues be characterized as metaphysics than physics. Not that he
that many ideas of modern theoretical physics are so bizarre has any problem with scientists speculating, for speculations
and remote from empirical reality that they hardly qualify as sometimes push the frontiers of science. “But when their
science. As he points out, this kind of “fairy-tale physics” ambition to give answers drives them to tell fairy tales,
sells very well to the wider public, often in books with titles smothered in a sugar-coating of anthropic logic, let us all be
and subtitles that grossly misrepresent what the books are clear that we’ve left science far behind” (p. 283). It all boils
really about. I can’t help feeling that this is also the case with down to what we mean by science. There are currently pro-
Baggott’s book, the title of which is quite misleading. Readers posals from some physicists to change the rules of the game
will soon discover that it is not really a polemical book on in order to accommodate within science new areas of aca-
how physics has said “farewell to reality” and “betrayed the demic discourse. Baggott follows other critics in pointing
search for scientific truth.” No, the book is primarily a solid, out the problematic and perhaps even devastating conse-
accurate, and well-written popular history of branches of quences that such an extension of the basic criteria of science
modern theoretical physics. Baggott does criticize some of may have.
these highly publicized theories, charging that they are untest- But how important is the problem? After all, if scientific
able and methodologically unsound, but his critique is truth has been betrayed it is not by “modern physics” but
throughout balanced and well informed. For example, only by a small segment of it. So why not let the few theo-
although he generally favors empiricism and insists on testa- rists cultivating fairy-tale physics continue to ply their trade?
bility, he also stresses that there are no empirical facts without At least it is entertaining. Baggott argues that the problem is
theory, and he recognizes that testability is not a simple con- potentially serious, especially in the public sphere where it
cept. There must be some empirical evidence for the predic- may erode the credibility and epistemic authority of the sci-
tions of a theory, but does the evidence need to be direct? If entific community. Perhaps he is right, but it should be kept
not, how indirect can it be? Is it enough that a theory is testa- in mind that fairy-tale science is not a modern phenomenon
ble in principle, or does it need to be actually testable? Even and that previous instances of the phenomenon have not
if a theory is not testable at present, perhaps it will be so in a caused any real harm. Baggott’s book deals rather narrowly
future version—but then, how long should we wait? with modern fundamental physics. A broader framework in
Farewell to Reality consists of three parts of which the both a chronological and disciplinary sense would have been
first is a condensed discussion of relevant concepts in the an advantage, for only then can the significance of current
philosophy of science that Baggott summarizes in a number fairy-tale physics be properly evaluated.
of “principles.” Although he speaks of the scientific method,
he is well aware that there is no single methodological for-
Helge Kragh is a Professor of History of Science at Aarhus
mula that encompasses all of science. And although he tends
University, Denmark. He works on the history of modern
to associate scientific truth with the correspondence criterion cosmology and physical sciences. He has written extensively
of truth, he realizes that in some cases (say string theory and on the history of physics; his most recent books are Higher
black hole physics) the coherence criterion comes closer to Speculations: Grand Theories and Failed Revolutions in
scientific practice. In general, Baggott’s principles of science Physics and Cosmology (2011), Niels Bohr and the Quantum
are sensible and fairly conventional, of the kind that the large Atom (2012), and Masters of the Universe: Conversations
majority of physicists will have no problem accepting. The with Cosmologists of the Past (2014).

382 Am. J. Phys. 83 (4), April 2015 http://aapt.org/ajp C 2015 American Association of Physics Teachers
V 382
A Student’s Guide to Entropy. Don S. Lemons. 181 pp. upper-level undergraduate students, who have a very good
Cambridge University Press, New York, 2013. Price: foundation in algebra, calculus, differential equations, and
$28.99 (paper). ISBN 978-1-107-65397-9. (Effrosyni probability and statistics, will make the most out of the book.
Seitaridou, Reviewer) The author works through the mathematical derivations, let-
ting the reader connect some of the dots, presents examples in
Entropy is a difficult concept to understand. Even if a stu- the text, and also provides problems at the end of each chap-
dent has the necessary mathematical background to follow ter. The answers to these problems are given in an appendix
the derivations associated with applying entropy in different (Appendix V). However, the book does not contain step-by-
contexts, it is not easy to develop an intuition about what en- step solutions to these problems. This is the only element in
tropy is. In A Student’s Guide to Entropy, Don Lemons con- the book that readers, especially those who intend to use this
veys both mathematical and physical intuition of entropy. book for the purpose of self-study, might find disappointing.
The concept of entropy is present in the sciences, engi- The second contributing element to the book’s success,
neering, and other areas (e.g., economics). Etymologically, one which the author often uses in his books, is his choice to
entropy is derived from the Greek words en (meaning in) provide a historical outline of entropy. This outline includes
and trop e (meaning turn), and thus it was developed in an a timeline in Appendix IV. Lemons uses this tool in order to
effort to describe how systems “turn” or evolve in time. provide the reader not only with a lesson in history, but also
Since many disciplines are interested in describing system with a lesson in physics. The history of thought behind en-
dynamics, the ubiquity of entropy makes it a concept that is tropy allows the author to point out the shortcomings of ideas
essential for students of these disciplines to comprehend and that had already been developed and the reasons behind the
appreciate. To these students, this book will be very helpful. need for their expansion or the formation of new ones in
The book provides an illuminating overview of the con- order to answer additional questions. Thus, through this his-
cept of entropy. Each chapter deals with a different aspect or torical overview, the author helps the reader look at entropy
application of entropy: thermodynamic and statistical en- critically and from a different perspective, as all the famous
tropy (chapters 1 and 2), entropy of classical and quantized physicists (e.g., Carnot, Boltzmann, etc.) had done in the
systems (chapters 3 and 4), entropy of a non-isolated system past. This helps the reader develop physical and mathemati-
(chapter 5), entropy of fermion and boson systems (chapters cal insight and intuition. Furthermore, regardless of whether
6 and 7), and entropy of information (chapter 8). The book one thinks of entropy as disorder, uncertainty, or possibility,
also contains six appendices. However, the words overview with the last being the author’s “favorite short description of
and guide might be misleading since they might imply a lack entropy,” the author manages to explain the reasons behind
of depth for the benefit of breadth. On the contrary, the these synonyms for entropy using physical, mathematical,
author is very thorough, clear, and succinct in his explana- and historical justifications. In addition to the timeline, other
tions, making sure that no subtlety is left unnoticed or unac- delightful elements of the book are the inclusion of a glos-
counted for. The reader feels that he/she is being taught and sary of terms (Appendix III) and a comprehensive reading
guided by an experienced teacher of thermodynamics and list (Appendix VI).
entropy, its applications and subtleties (Lemons has written In A Student’s Guide to Entropy, the author has succeeded
another textbook in the field called Mere Thermodynamics). in writing a book that “helps readers understand the elusive
This book will be essential not only to students but also to concept of entropy.” The book goes beyond that by helping
faculty who are charged with the difficult task of teaching a the reader acquire an appreciation for entropy. It is a thor-
subject that involves entropy. ough, self-contained guide to entropy for students and teach-
There are two aspects of this book that I particularly liked. ers alike.
The first is that the author does not shy away from the mathe-
matics; this book can by no means be considered light read-
ing. Entropy is a highly mathematically driven subject. As Effrosyni Seitaridou is Associate Professor of Physics at
such, the mathematics is essential for the development of Oxford College of Emory University. Her research focuses
understanding and intuition about the concept. Consequently, on diffusion in biological systems.

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Publishers, Cambridge, MA, 2015. Price $79.95 (paper) 06998-9.
ISBN 978-0-8376-1616-5. Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Climate Change and
Reconstructing Reality: Models, Mathematics, and Energy in the 21st Century (2nd ed.). Burton Richter.
Simulations. Margaret Morrison. 342 pp. Oxford U. P., 379 pp. Cambridge U. P., New York, 2015. Price $19.99
New York, 2015. Price $65 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-19- (paper) ISBN 978-1-107-67372-4.
938027-5.

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James. 197 pp. Cambridge U. P., New York, 2015. Price John B. Ketterson (eds.). 644 pp. Oxford U. P., New
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Covariant Loop Quantum Gravity: An Elementary 2015. Price $69.95 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-19-872384-4.
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