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Entropy (Simplified) definitions

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  • Entropy
    A measure of molecular disorder or randomness, reflecting the degree of chaos present in a system or the universe.
  • Second Law of Thermodynamics
    A principle stating that the total disorder of the universe always increases over time, driving all spontaneous processes.
  • Spontaneity
    A property of a process that occurs naturally, always accompanied by an increase in the universe's disorder.
  • Delta S
    A symbol representing the change in disorder during a physical or chemical transformation.
  • Physical Change
    A transformation involving states of matter, such as melting or vaporization, affecting molecular spacing and disorder.
  • Chemical Change
    A process involving the rearrangement of atoms, often altering the number of gas particles and the system's disorder.
  • Solid
    A state of matter with closely packed molecules, exhibiting the lowest degree of molecular disorder.
  • Gas
    A state of matter with widely spaced, rapidly moving molecules, exhibiting the highest degree of disorder.
  • Bond Formation
    A process where atoms join, typically resulting in decreased molecular disorder and fewer gas particles.
  • Bond Breaking
    A process where atomic connections are disrupted, leading to increased molecular disorder and chaos.
  • Moles of Gas
    A quantity indicating the number of gas particles; an increase signals greater disorder, while a decrease signals less.
  • Temperature
    A factor influencing molecular motion; higher values promote transitions to more disordered states like gases.
  • System
    The specific part of the universe under study, where changes in disorder are analyzed.
  • Surroundings
    Everything outside the system, interacting with it and contributing to overall changes in disorder.
  • Universe
    The sum of all systems and surroundings, where total disorder is always increasing according to thermodynamic laws.