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However, today the classical equation of entropy, = can be explained, part by part, in modern terms describing how molecules are responsible for what is happening: Δ S {\displaystyle \Delta S} is the change in entropy of a system (some physical substance of interest) after some motional energy ("heat") has been transferred to it by fast-moving ...
In more detail, Clausius explained his choice of "entropy" as a name as follows: [11] I prefer going to the ancient languages for the names of important scientific quantities, so that they may mean the same thing in all living tongues. I propose, therefore, to call S the entropy of a body, after the Greek
Figure 1. A thermodynamic model system. Differences in pressure, density, and temperature of a thermodynamic system tend to equalize over time. For example, in a room containing a glass of melting ice, the difference in temperature between the warm room and the cold glass of ice and water is equalized by energy flowing as heat from the room to the cooler ice and water mixture.
A system's entropy approaches a constant value as its temperature approaches absolute zero. a) Single possible configuration for a system at absolute zero, i.e., only one microstate is accessible. b) At temperatures greater than absolute zero, multiple microstates are accessible due to atomic vibration (exaggerated in the figure).
In the view of Jaynes (1957), [20] thermodynamic entropy, as explained by statistical mechanics, should be seen as an application of Shannon's information theory: the thermodynamic entropy is interpreted as being proportional to the amount of further Shannon information needed to define the detailed microscopic state of the system, that remains ...
The entropy of a closed system, determined relative to this zero point, is then the absolute entropy of that system. Mathematically, the absolute entropy of any system at zero temperature is the natural log of the number of ground states times the Boltzmann constant k B = 1.38 × 10 −23 J K −1.
Thus, if entropy is associated with disorder and if the entropy of the universe is headed towards maximal entropy, then many are often puzzled as to the nature of the "ordering" process and operation of evolution in relation to Clausius' most famous version of the second law, which states that the universe is headed towards maximal "disorder".
The entropy of the system may likewise be written as a function of the other extensive parameters as (,,, … ) {\displaystyle S(U,X_{1},X_{2},\dots )} . Suppose that X is one of the X i {\displaystyle X_{i}} which varies as a system approaches equilibrium, and that it is the only such parameter which is varying.