Author Description

In Many Respects Entropy Is As Important A Concept As Energy, But It Is Far Less Well Known. Until The Second Half Of The Nineteenth Century The Two Concepts Were Not Clearly Distinguished. By 1900 Entropy Was Understood To Be A Measure Of Disorder In Materials And Had Become A Valued Tool In Physics And Chemistry, But In 1947 It Was Discovered To Be The Correct Measure Of Ignorance, And As Such The Measure Of The Data-carrying Capacity Of A Communications Channel. In An Increasingly Data-driven World The 'principle Of Maximum Entropy' Is Playing A Key Role In Data Analysis And Decision Making. Probability Distributions Quantify Ignorance, So Entropy Quantifies Probability Distributions. Quantum Mechanics Is A Scheme For Computing Probability Distributions And Reveals Aspects Of Them And Of Entropy That Are Not Evident In The Classical World. One Such Is `etanglement Entropy', Which Plays A Key Role In Cutting-edge Quantum Technologies. Gravity Sits Awkwardly Alongside The Thermodynamics And Statistical Physics From Which Entropy Emerged. It Violates Established Principles Even In The Context Of Systems Such As Star Clusters That Are Governed By Newtonian Physics. When General Relativity And Quantum Mechanics Are Added To The Mix To Analyse The Thermodynamics Of Black Holes, An Idea, The `holographic Principle', Emerges That Calls Into Question Our Current Model Of Material Reality. This Book Traces The Emergence Of Entropy And Energy As Key Concepts Before Illustrating The Importance Of Employing Both Ideas By Discussing Aspects Of The Energy Transition Such As Heat Pumps, Solar Cells, Carbon Capture And Liquified Natural Gas. Then It Explains How Entropy Quantifies Ignorance And Illustrates The Resulting Principle Of Maximum Entropy By Reference To Image Reconstruction. Chapters On The Role Of Entropy In Quantum Mechanics And Gravity Follow-- Provided By Publisher.