Which thermodynamic reasoning approach did the founders of thermodynamics favor ?
For thermodynamics and statistical thermodynamics to apply to a system subjected to a process , it is necessary that the atomic mechanisms of the process fall into one of two classes : those so rapid that , in the time frame of the process of interest , the atomic states effectively visit all of their accessible range , bringing the system to its state of internal thermodynamic equilibrium ; and those so slow that their progress can be neglected in the time frame of the process of interest .