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Minesweeper thermodynamics

(oscarcunningham.com)
206 points robinhouston | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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kens ◴[] No.45123344[source]
The article discusses Boltzmann's formula exp(-E/kT). I was recently looking at the same formula in the context of semiconductors and I realized that Boltzmann's constant k is only needed because temperature uses bad units. If we measured temperature in energy instead of degrees, then Boltzmann's constant drops out. For instance, you could express room temperature as 25 meV (milli electron volts) or 2444 joules/mole and the constant disappears. Likewise, the constant in the ideal gas law disappears if you measure temperature as energy rather than degrees Kelvin. In other words, degrees Kelvin is a made-up unit that should be abandoned. (I'm not sure I believe this, but I don't see a flaw.)
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OscarCunningham ◴[] No.45123995[source]
I don't think temperature would be measured as energy, but rather as energy per information; e.g. joules per bit. Boltzmann's constant defines the degree as one joule per a very large number of bits, to get numbers convenient at macroscopic scales.
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1. kgwgk ◴[] No.45124078[source]
The argument of the exponential E/kT needs to be dimensionless. If E and T are not homogeneous you will still need a k to “cancel” the units.