![]() ![]() ![]() Entropy is a quantifiable physical property that is frequently associated with a state of disorder, unpredictability, or uncertainty. A state function specifies the equilibrium state of a system as well as the type of system. Introduction of entropy as a state functionĪ state function is a function established for a system that connects numerous state variables or state quantities and is only dependent on the system’s current equilibrium thermodynamic state (e.g., gas, liquid, solid, crystal, or emulsion), not on the path it took to get there. It specifies that the matter is kept at a constant temperature. It also quantifies the average information flow per unit of time.Įntropy is defined as the social decline or natural decay of structure (such as law, organization, and convention) in a social system by sociology.Įntropy is defined in cosmology as the universe’s hypothetical tendency to achieve maximum homogeneity. It is a measure of a system’s efficiency in transmitting a signal or the loss of information in a transmitted signal when discussing information theory.Įntropy defines the increasing complexity of a dynamical system when it comes to dynamical systems. When it comes to quantum statistical mechanics, Von Neumann used the density matrix to extend the concept of entropy to the quantum domain. The following are some other popular interpretations of entropy: The entropy of a molecular system is a measure of its disorder. Meanwhile, the statistical definition developed later focused on the thermodynamic properties defined in terms of the statistics of a system’s molecular motions. This thermodynamic description took into account the systems’ state of equilibrium. Entropy, on the other hand, is used to describe a system’s behaviour in terms of thermodynamic properties such as temperature, pressure, entropy, and heat capacity. We do not consider the microscopic details of a system from the standpoint of entropy in thermodynamics. On this page, we will look at two definitions of entropy: the thermodynamic definition and the statistical definition. Aside from the general definition, there are several definitions for this concept. In the year 1850, a German physicist named Rudolf Clausius proposed this concept. The concept of entropy essentially refers to the spontaneous changes that occur in everyday phenomena or the universe’s proclivity toward disorder.Įntropy is commonly defined as a measure of a system’s randomness or disorder. More importantly, entropy can be defined in a variety of ways and thus applied in a variety of stages or instances, such as a thermodynamic stage, cosmology, and even economics. The two approaches combine to form a consistent, unified view of the same phenomenon expressed in the second law of thermodynamics, which has universal applicability to physical processes.Įntropy is an important concept that students must understand thoroughly while studying Chemistry and Physics. Entropy is statistically defined in terms of the statistics of the motions of the microscopic constituents of a system – first classically, for example, Newtonian particles constituting a gas, and later quantum-mechanically (photons, phonons, spins, etc.). Entropy is traditionally defined in terms of macroscopically measurable physical properties such as bulk mass, volume, pressure, and temperature. Entropy is central to the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy of isolated systems left to spontaneous evolution cannot decrease with time because they always reach a state of thermodynamic equilibrium with the highest entropy.Įntropy is described in two ways: from the macroscopic perspective of classical thermodynamics and from the microscopic perspective central to statistical mechanics. Clausius interpreted the concept as disgregation in 1862, referring to microscopic constitution and structure.Īside from the requirement of not violating the conservation of energy, which is expressed in the first law of thermodynamics, entropy causes certain processes to be irreversible or impossible. He first referred to it as transformation-content, or Verwandlung Inhalt in German, and later coined the term entropy from a Greek word for transformation. ![]() One of the leading founders of the field of thermodynamics, German physicist Rudolf Clausius, defined it in 1865 as the quotient of an infinitesimal amount of heat to the instantaneous temperature. In 1850, Scottish scientist and engineer Macquorn Rankine used the terms thermodynamic function and heat-potential to describe the thermodynamic concept. ![]()
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