Boltzmann's entropy formula

Boltzmann's entropy formula—carved on his gravestone.[1]

In statistical mechanics, Boltzmann's entropy formula (also known as the Boltzmann–Planck equation, not to be confused with the more general Boltzmann equation, which is a partial differential equation) is a probability equation relating the entropy , also written as , of an ideal gas to the multiplicity (commonly denoted as or ), the number of real microstates corresponding to the gas's macrostate:

where is the Boltzmann constant (also written as simply ) and equal to 1.380649 × 10−23 J/K, and is the natural logarithm function (or log base e, as in the image above).

In short, the Boltzmann formula shows the relationship between entropy and the number of ways the atoms or molecules of a certain kind of thermodynamic system can be arranged.

  1. ^ See: photo of Boltzmann's grave in the Zentralfriedhof, Vienna, with bust and entropy formula.

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