Entropy (and free energy)
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What is entropy and how does it relate to the ways of arrangement?
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Corrie writes .....
Entropy can be described in words or defined mathematically in terms of probabilities. In words entropy is often stated to be 'a measure of disorder', the higher the entropy of a system, the more ways of arranging the particles it consists of and the distribution of energy amongst them. A better definition might be 'a measure of the distribution of energy amongst the particles in a system'.
Mathematically it is defined as S = k x ln W,
where k is a constant known as the Boltzmann constant, and ln W is the natural logarithm of the number of possible arrangements. The number of possible arrangements increases if the number of particles increases, and if the energy is increased, i.e. the temperature is raised. For example, a mole of atoms sharing 1023 quanta of energy will have an entropy of 11.4 J mol-1 K-1.
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updated: 18 June 2008
