Microscopic Definitions of Thermodynamic Concepts
Statistical mechanics links the empirical thermodynamic properties of a system to the statistical distribution of an ensemble of microstates. All macroscopic thermodynamic properties of a system may be calculated from the partition function that sums the energy of all its microstates.
At any moment a system is distributed across an ensemble of N microstates, each denoted by i, and having a probability of occupation pi, and an energy . These microstates form a discrete set as defined by quantum statistical mechanics, and is an energy level of the system.
Read more about this topic: Microstate (statistical Mechanics)
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