FOR THOSE READERS who like short book reviews, let me assist you. "Four Laws That Drive the Universe," by Peter Atkins is an outstanding introduction to thermodynamics. This brief book converts ...

Can quantum systems become more disordered, as thermodynamics would predict? Yes, they can - if a proper definition of "entropy" is used. It is one of the most important laws of nature that we know: ...

The Laws of Thermodynamics are the foundation of heat transfer and energy work. When any engineer is designing or implementing a system, the consideration of heat loss or energy produced is influenced ...

Benjamin Franklin famously said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” but anyone who’s ever taken an introductory Physics class knows that there’s something more ...

In biophysics, the kinetic states of molecules play a determining role in the metabolic and physiological processes in which they take part. Now, a new article specifies for the first time the levels ...

Electrons in a metal form a Fermi distribution in equilibrium with a phonon bath. These electrons can easily be driven out of equilibrium, for example, by applying Joule heating 4. A key feature of ...