Elementary Principles in Statistical Mechanics

Preface; 1. General notions. The principle of conservation of extension-in-phase; 2. Application of the principle of conservation of extension-in-phase to the theory of errors; 3. Application of the principle of conservation of extension-in-phase to the integration of the differential equations of motion; 4. On the distribution-in-phase called canonical, in which the index of probability is a linear function of the energy; 5. Average values in a canonical ensemble of systems; 6. Extension-in-configuration and extension-in-velocity; 7. Farther discussion of averages in a canonical ensemble of systems; 8. On certain important functions of the energies of a system; 9. The function Φ and the canonical distribution; 10. On a distribution in phase called microcanonical in which all the systems have the same energy; 11. Maximum and minimum properties of various distributions in phase; 12. On the motion of systems and ensembles of systems through long periods of time; 13. Effect of various processes on an ensemble of systems; 14. Discussion of thermodynamic analogies; 15. Systems composed of molecules.