Talk:Identical particles

This has profound implications for thermodynamics. Suppose you have two coins which are not identical. The probability of finding the coins in heads-tails is one in two, while the probability of finding the coints in heads-heads or tails-tails in one in four. If the coins are identical, then the probability of finding the coins in heads-heads, tails-tails, or heads-tails is one in three. Since the thermodynamic properties of a material are determined by the probability of particles being at a certain energy, the assertion of identical particles has some very noticable impacts.

I removed this paragraph, as I have doubts about it. Could whoever wrote it please explain in greater detail? I do not find it useful, because coins (like all macroscopic objects) are not identical. Also, I do not understand what you mean by "flipping" identical coins.

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Rewrote the paragraph. I'm basically trying to paraphrase the discussion of quantum statistics in Kittel and Kromer's *Thermal Physics*. The basic point is that the concept of identical particles has some profound macroscopic consequences. The discussion is for bosons. It would be nice to include a section of the implications of antisymmetry on fermions.

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The Pauli exclusion principle doesn't always work, according to my quantum textbook. See my discussion in talk:Pauli exclusion principle. -- Tim Starling