Skip to main content
Back

Chemical Thermodynamics: Entropy definitions

Control buttons has been changed to "navigation" mode.
1/15
  • Entropy
    A quantitative measure of molecular disorder or randomness, reflecting the tendency of systems to move toward chaos.
  • Second Law of Thermodynamics
    A principle stating that the total disorder of the universe always increases in any spontaneous process.
  • Phase Change
    A transition between solid, liquid, and gas states, accompanied by changes in molecular arrangement and disorder.
  • Delta S
    A symbol representing the change in molecular disorder during a process, positive for increased randomness, negative for increased order.
  • Third Law of Thermodynamics
    A law stating that molecular disorder approaches zero as temperature approaches absolute zero.
  • Absolute Zero
    A theoretical temperature (0 Kelvin) where all molecular motion ceases and disorder is minimized.
  • Microstates
    The different possible arrangements and orientations molecules can adopt, contributing to overall disorder.
  • Lattice Energy
    The energy released when gaseous ions form an ionic solid, indicating bond strength and affecting disorder.
  • Covalent Compound
    A substance composed of nonmetals sharing electrons, with disorder influenced by phase, complexity, and mass.
  • Ionic Compound
    A solid formed from positive and negative ions, with disorder affected by bond strength and lattice energy.
  • Cation
    A positively charged ion participating in ionic bonding and influencing the strength of ionic solids.
  • Anion
    A negatively charged ion that pairs with a positive counterpart to form ionic solids.
  • Periodic Table Trend
    A pattern showing that bond strength and lattice energy increase toward the top right of the element chart.
  • Complexity
    A factor determined by the number of elements in a molecule, influencing the number of possible arrangements.
  • Molecular Mass
    A property where greater mass leads to higher disorder when comparing substances of similar structure.