Top Down Thermodynamics: Entropy, Form, and the Thermal Turbine
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Authors
Baker, Josh E.
Issue Date
2026
Type
Book
Language
en_US
Keywords
Thermodynamics , Entropy , Muscle
Alternative Title
Abstract
This monograph addresses a persistent conceptual fracture in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics: the gap between what entropy demonstrably does in real physical systems and how it is commonly interpreted. In particular, it shows how decades of experimental and theoretical work on muscle contraction forced a re examination of entropy, causation, and irreversibility - leading not to a rejection of thermodynamics, but to a return from Clausius to Carnot, now equipped with Boltzmann's mathematics. The central claim is simple but disruptive: irreversible function is governed by macroscopic combinatorial structure, not microscopic disorder. Entropy is not an epiphenomenon of molecules; it is a macroscopic physical body that stores and releases energy. One form of stored energy is mechanical. A second form is thermally sourced and is referred to here as caloric potential. What follows is not speculative philosophy. It is a synthesis grounded in combinatorics, statistical mechanics, and experimental muscle physiology.
Description
Citation
Josh E. Baker
Publisher
License
CC BY-NC-ND