Ehrenfest's argument extended to a formalism of nonequilibrium thermodynamics -: art. no. 066124

A general method of constructing dissipative equations is developed, following Ehrenfest's idea of coarse graining. The approach resolves the major issue of discrete time coarse graining versus continuous time macroscopic equations. Proof of the H theorem for macroscopic equations is given, several examples supporting the construction are presented, and generalizations are suggested.