Built on Facts  Volume and Entropy  Thermodynamics and
statistical mechanics hold a bit of an odd place in the heart
and mind of a physics student. On one hand it’s one of the few
subjects with truly universal applicability. No matter if you
work in galaxy clusters, nuclear theory, experimental solid
state, or anything else the concepts of those disciplines are
going to assert themselves. Energy and entropy are everywhere.
On the other hand it tends to be a tremendous pain in the neck
to learn.  I’m in a stat mech class this semester, as you might
guess. We do about two days worth of thermodynamics to keep up
appearances, but by the time you get to the graduate physics
level thermo is essentially an engineering problem. Statistical
mechanics is the heart of the issue.  Now as today is day 1 and
we haven’t yet done all that much, I’m not going to go into any
detail here either. I just want to give you a brief taste of the
weirdness. Trust me, I’m going to take advantage of this class
to write about plenty of w