ABSTRACT
Classical thermodynamics neither requires, nor takes account of, the molecular nature of matter, whereas chemists are interested in the molecular nature of matter and its properties. Statistical thermodynamics has been a highly successful approach to bridging the gap between the quantized, molecular properties of a system and its macroscopic thermodynamic properties. It is a fundamental premise of statistical thermodynamics that the microscopic properties of a system directly influence those properties which are observable and measurable at the macroscopic level (heat capacity or entropy, for example). Statistical thermodynamics operates effectively because the microscopic properties of a system can be described by focusing only on the most probable molecular state.
