The world consists of moving parts: stars, planets, animals, electrons, protons, photons, etc. Their movements and interactions carry energy. Energy is a fundamental concept. We do not know how to define energy in terms of more fundamental concepts. We do know many ways to keep track of energy. For example, we know how to calculate the kinetic energy of a flying bullet, and the gravitational energy of a weight. We can measure the electrostatic energy in a capacitor, and the elastic energy in a spring. We can look up the values of energy in all kinds of food. We can find similar numbers for fuels—coal, oil, gas. Energy in foods and fuels are stored in chemical bonds.

(Class notes for ES 181 Engineering Thermodynamics.  Also part of my notes on thermodynamics)  In 1824, Sadi Carnot (1796-1832) published a short book, Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire. (The book is now free online. You should try it out.) To construct an engine, Carnot noted, at least two reservoirs of energy of different temperatures are needed. He further noted that the engine loses efficiency whenever the working fluid of the engine exchanges energy with the rest of the world across a finite difference in temperature. To avoid such exchange of energy, he described a specific cycle—later known as the Carnot cycle—consisting of isothermal and adiabatic processes. Whenever the working fluid exchanges energy with either reservoir, the temperature of the working fluid is kept the same as that of the reservoir. Whenever the temperature of working fluid differs from the temperatures of the reservoirs, the working fluid is thermally insulated. He argued that this cycle is the most efficient of all cycles that convert heat to work by operating between two constant-temperature reservoirs of energy.

If you are an engineering student and going to study solid mechanics, you may have a question: "what are the best books on solid mechanics which I should read to gain a firm background?" Your advisor may give you some suggestions, but you still want to know what other people read or study. It is better to follow a good reading list to study a subject step by step. And also your advisor may give you a list, but that one may work only for the topics your advisor wants you know. Is there a general reading list one can follow to gain a solid understanding on solid mechanics? This might be a question most students have.

• A dissection of a sample space
• Entropy of a dissection of a sample space
  
  

• An experiment that has many possible outcomes
• Construct a sample space at a suitable level of detail
• Probability of an event
• Conditioning
• Independent events
• Random variable
• Use a random variable to specify an event
• Use a random variable to dissect a sample space
• Probability distribution of a random variable
• Variance of a random variable
• A dimensionless measure of the fluctuation of a random variable

Return to the outline of Statistical Mechanics

Here are sections that I have now: