Resources

• general
  • About Temperature, Beverly T. Lynds, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
  • The Arrow of Time, Nigel Bunce and Jim Hunt, University of Guelph
  • Entropy on the World Wide Web, Chris Hillman, University of Washington
  • Experimental Demonstration of Violations of the Second Law of Thermodynamics for Small Systems and Short Time Scales. G. M. Wang, E. M. Sevick, Emil Mittag, Debra J. Searles, and Denis J. Evans. Physical Review Letters. Vol. 89, No. 5 (29 July 2002).
  • How to teach statistical thermal physics in an introductory physics course, Koo-Chul Lee, Seoul National University
• historical
  • Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat and on Machines Fitted to Develop that Power, Sadi Carnot (1825). Translated by R.H. Thurston.
  • On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with numerical results deduced from Mr Joule's equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and M. Regnault's Observations on Steam. Baron Kelvin of Largs. Philosophical Magazine. Vol. 4 (1852).
  • Ueber verschiedene für die Anwendung bequeme Formen der Hauptgleichungen der mechanischen Wärmetheorie. Rudolf Clausius. Annalen der Physik und Chemie. Vol. 125, No. 7 (1865): 353–400.
• humor
  • Christian Right Lobbies to Overturn Second Law of Thermodynamics, The Onion, 6 September 2000
  • "Pup" ponders the heat death of the universe, an oversized, online comic strip by Drew Weing
• information theory
  • general
    • A Short Course in Information Theory, David J.C. MacKay, Cavendish Laboratory
    • Shannon Day @ Bell Labs, includes copies of his seminal 1948 paper "A Mathematical Theory of Communication"
  • language
    • Shannon, Claude E. "Prediction and Entropy of Printed English." Bell Systems Technical Journal. Vol. 30, No. 50 (January 1951): 50-64.
      • pdf copy at Princeton University
      • pdf copy at the Weizmann Institute of Science
    • Shannon's Experiment to Calculate the Entropy of English (Java Applet); Adriano M. Garsia, D. Little, T. Mastro and M. Zabrocki; Penn State University
    • Statistically speaking, Indus script is a language. Physics Today, 27 April 2009
      • Rajesh P. N. Rao, et al. Entropic Evidence for Linguistic Structure in the Indus Script. Science. Vol. 324. No. 5931 (29 May 2009): 1165. doi:10.1126/science.1170391.
  • proteins
    • B.J. Strait and T.G. Dewey. The Shannon information entropy of protein sequences. Biophysical Journal. Vol. 71 No. 1 (July 1996): 148–155.
• perpetual motion
  • Motionless electromagnetic generator, Patrick, et al., US Patent 6,362,718 (26 March 2002)
  • Perpetual Motion Page, York University
• video on demand
  • The Mechanical Universe and Beyond (video on demand, login required)
    • Entropy, The Carnot engine, part two, with profound implications for the behavior of matter and the flow of time through the universe.