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microstate

9.6

A particular tiny arrangement of particles and their energy

noun
/ˈmaɪkroʊsteɪt/

Specialized

: microestado

In statistical mechanics, a microstate represents a specific arrangement of particles in a system.
typical microstates

So rather than thinking about a single microstate, we thought about an ensemble.

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Examples

Understanding the concept of a microstate is crucial for studying the entropy of a system.
Now, how many microstates are now possible in each bar?
And how does this picture connect with the microstate, macrostate idea?
Let us consider now the time evolution of microstates underlying that of the macrostate M.

Academic text (1993)
To each macrostate M, there corresponds a very large set of microstates making up a region Gamma M in the total phase space Gamma.

Academic text (1993)
Once we accept such an initial macrostate M0, then the initial microstate can be assumed to be typical of Gamma M0.

Academic text (1993)
A thermodynamic system can exist in multiple microstates, each defined by unique positions and energies of its components.

Surface Forms

microstate singular

microstates plural

Morphology

microstate = state (semi-transparent) = micro + state

The form is built from micro- plus state, but the physics sense is a specialized technical meaning that is not fully predictable for a learner.

Etymology

The word microstate combines micro- ('small') and state ('condition' or 'way something is'). So in physics a microstate is one very small 'condition' or arrangement of a system, which is why the name means a 'small state'.