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In thermodynamics, a parameter representing the state of disorder of a system at the atomic, ionic, or molecular level; the greater the disorder the higher the entropy. [6] A measure of disorder in the universe or of the unavailability of the energy in a system to do work. [7] Entropy and disorder also have associations with equilibrium. [8]
A key physical factor which distinguishes the LCST from other mixture behavior is that the LCST phase separation is driven by unfavorable entropy of mixing. [18] Since mixing of the two phases is spontaneous below the LCST and not above, the Gibbs free energy change (ΔG) for the mixing of these two phases is negative below the LCST and positive above, and the entropy change ΔS = – (dΔG/dT ...
As a result, the entropy decreases in the system, ΔS p < 0 for nearly all polymerization processes. Since depolymerization is almost always entropically favored, the ΔH p must then be sufficiently negative to compensate for the unfavorable entropic term. Only then will polymerization be thermodynamically favored by the resulting negative ΔG p.
Since an entropy is a state function, the entropy change of the system for an irreversible path is the same as for a reversible path between the same two states. [23] However, the heat transferred to or from the surroundings is different as well as its entropy change. We can calculate the change of entropy only by integrating the above formula.
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. The entropy of a perfect crystal lattice as defined by Nernst's theorem is zero provided that its ground state is unique, because ln(1) = 0.
Ludwig Boltzmann defined entropy as a measure of the number of possible microscopic states (microstates) of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium, consistent with its macroscopic thermodynamic properties, which constitute the macrostate of the system. A useful illustration is the example of a sample of gas contained in a container.
However, the entropy can only be a constant if the system is in the highest possible state of disorder, such as a gas that always was, and always will be, uniformly spread out in its container. The existence of a thermodynamic arrow of time implies that the system is highly ordered in one time direction only, which would by definition be the ...
In physics, black hole thermodynamics [1] is the area of study that seeks to reconcile the laws of thermodynamics with the existence of black hole event horizons.As the study of the statistical mechanics of black-body radiation led to the development of the theory of quantum mechanics, the effort to understand the statistical mechanics of black holes has had a deep impact upon the ...