76
DOCS.
105,
106
JUNE
1908
105.
To
Marian
von
Smoluchowski
Bern,
11
June
1908
Highly
esteemed
Sir:[1]
Along
with this
postcard
I
am
sending
you
those
of
my
papers
that
might
still be
of
interest.[2]
At the
same
time,
I wish to ask
you
to send
me
your
papers,
for
I would like
to
study
them
more thoroughly.[3]
With kindest
regards,
yours truly,
A.
Einstein
Patent
Office
Bern
106.
From
Aurel
Stodola
Zurich,
13
June
1908
Highly
esteemed
Dr.
Einstein:
The
reading
of
your papers,
and the
memory
of
the
pleasant
hours
we
spent together
with Prof.
Weiss,[1]
encourage
me
to ask
you
the
following
question, to
which
I probably
would
not
be able
to
get
an answer
in Zurich:
In his
book,
Das Werden des
Weltalls
[Worlds
in
the
Making],
Arrhenius
says
that
some
pieces
of the
cosmic
nebulae
=
dust
aggregations (which evidently
attain
very
great
velocities due
to quasi-molecular
collisions) are
hurled
away,
and
thereby
effect
an
improvement
in
the
entropy
balance of
the
world.[2]
As
an
engineer,
I
am an
outsider
as
regards
the
kinetic
theory
of
gases,
but
based
on
a
mere
estimate, I
cherish the
view
that
when,
due
to
a
favorable kind
of
collision,
individual
pieces get
accelerated,
and
their
temperature
thus
increases,
then other
pieces
must
suffer
a
corresponding loss,
so
that the total
effect-taking
into
account
the internal
oscillations
that
surely
must
be
assumed
to
occur
in
colliding
molecules
as
well, i.e.,
irreversible
changes
of
state-can
again
be
only an
increase
in
the
total
entropy.
So, is
Arrhenius
right
or
not?
I would be much
obliged
if
you
could
kindly
clear
this
up
for
me.
Yours
truly,
A. Stodola