tury, however, classical mechanics seemed limited to the behavior of large bodies. Theories of heat such as the caloric theory had only the loosest association to classical mechanics. The conservation of energy across transformations was not yet recognized. By the middle of the nineteenth century, however, the underlying unity of mechanical, chemical, and other forms of energy was established, while the effects of heat and pressure upon gasses had been successfully based upon classical mechanics.
The very triumph of classical mechanics, however, planted the seeds of crisis. The problem was that the solution of the problem of kinetic heat brought with it the discovery of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the phenomenon of entropy. The problems with the
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