Thermodynamics and microscopic theory: an educational proposal for the high school

Abstract

We present an educational proposal which aims to illustrate the elegant, refined and coherent physics contained in Thermodynamics, through a path which assigns to the microscopic description of the physical systems a constantly privileged role. This approach allows to reach a simple and, at the same time, deep understanding of the laws of Thermodynamics, while still emphasizing their great generality, which permits their application to all macroscopic systems, from simple gases to black holes, arriving to characterize the evolution of the entire Universe.