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Entropy and Chemical Substance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Robin Findlay Hendry
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Abstract

In this essay I critically examine the role of entropy of mixing in articulating a macroscopic criterion for the sameness and difference of chemical substances. Consider three cases of mixing in which entropy change occurs: isotopic variants, spin isomers, and populations of atoms in different orthogonal quantum states. Using these cases I argue that entropy of mixing tracks differences between physical states, differences that may or may not correspond to a difference of substance. It does not provide a criterion for the sameness and difference of substance that is appropriate to chemistry.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 77 , Issue 5 , December 2010 , pp. 921 - 932
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I am grateful to Paul Needham and the late Krishna Vemulapalli for illuminating conversations on the topic of this essay.

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