What if entropy were dimensionless?

One of entropy’s puzzling aspects is its dimensions of energy/temperature. A review of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics leads to six conclusions: ~1! Entropy’s dimensions are linked to the definition of the Kelvin temperature scale. ~2! Entropy can be defined to be dimensionless when temperature T is defined as an energy ~dubbed tempergy!. ~3! Dimensionless entropy per particle typically is between 0 and ;80. Its value facilitates comparisons among materials and estimates of the number of accessible states. ~4! Using dimensionless entropy and tempergy, Boltzmann’s constant k is unnecessary. ~5! Tempergy, kT, does not generally represent a stored system energy. ~6! When the ~extensive! heat capacity C@k , tempergy is the energy transfer required to increase the dimensionless entropy by unity. © 1999 American Association of Physics Teachers.