ABSTRACT
“‘Thermal physics’ is the fruit of the union of statistical and mechanical principles.” * Thermal physics is commonly referred to by the much more intimidating name “statistical mechanics,” a complex subject which is often the bane of many physics students, and which unifies the bedrock of macroscopic thermodynamics with the microscopic world of quantum mechanics. Said another way, statistical mechanics derives the results of thermodynamics using (statistical) quantum mechanics, from first principles. As such, it is one of the more beautiful and elegant constructs of the human mind.
