Thermodynamics: the science that began with a practical question — how much work can you get from heat? — and ended up defining the arrow of time. Carnot, Joule, Clausius and Kelvin, then Boltzmann recasting entropy as counting, and Maxwell's demon quietly tying the second law to what an observer knows. This is where physics first touches the Information path. Rovelli's Order of Time is a lovely companion on entropy and the arrow of time, though its final third drifts into speculative quantum gravity — read it knowing where the science ends.
next action
done when you can
resources
- ○Einstein's Fridge— Paul Senanchor · book
- ○The Four Laws That Drive the Universe— Peter Atkinscompanion · book
- ○Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life— Helen Czerskioptional · book
- ○The Order of Time— Carlo Rovellioptional · book
- ○Understanding Physics, Vol. 1: Motion, Sound, and Heat— Isaac Asimovoptional · book
sessions
unlocks The Information path's Unit 2 (thermodynamics of information) reads as a direct continuation of this. Also the emergence unit — entropy is the backdrop life pushes against.