The Importance of Subjectivity in the Definition of Microstates

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We define our macrostates by what we can observe about the system. The position and velocity of every individual atom is not something that we can observe even in principle. So I might coarse grain by taking a box of gas and dividing up into one cubic millimeter cubes, and then averaging over the number of atoms. You might divide itup into one cubic centimeter cubes and do the same thing. It does depend absolutely on how you coarse-grain into those macrostates.

Welcome to the August 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!

Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/07/ama-august-2023/

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