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Minesweeper thermodynamics

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206 points robinhouston | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.357s | 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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pizza ◴[] No.45124091[source]
See: Temperature as Joules per Bit https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.12119
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1. kqr ◴[] No.45128804[source]
Landauer's cost is one of those things that frighten me because it makes clear how little I understand about how the world works.