"The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynamics, where it was first recognized, to the microscopic description of nature in statistical physics, and to the principles of information theory."
Thorough study of entropy as a property of a system, including entropy production, Clausius inequality and the Carnot cycle.
Definition of Entropy: Entropy is a thermodynamic quantity that measures the disorder or randomness of a system.
Second Law of Thermodynamics: This law states that the total entropy of a closed system will tend to increase over time, unless energy is added from an external source.
Entropy and Heat: There is a direct relationship between heat transfer and entropy. If heat is transferred to a system, its entropy will increase.
Entropy and Work: The relationship between work and entropy is more complex, but in general, work done on a system will decrease its entropy.
Statistical Mechanics: Entropy can also be understood from a statistical perspective, in terms of the number of microstates that exist for a given system.
Boltzmann Equation: This equation relates the entropy of a system to the number of accessible microstates, and is a fundamental equation in statistical mechanics.
Entropy Changes in Chemical Reactions: In chemical reactions, there will usually be entropy changes associated with the formation of products from reactants.
Gibbs Free Energy: This quantity takes into account both the enthalpy and entropy changes of a system, and can be used to predict the feasibility of chemical reactions.
Phase Transitions: Changes in phase, such as from solid to liquid or liquid to gas, are also associated with changes in entropy.
Black Holes: In cosmology, black holes are often associated with high levels of entropy, due to the large number of microstates that can exist within them.
Clausius-Clapeyron Entropy: This type of entropy is used to measure the change in entropy due to a phase change.
Configurational Entropy: This is the measure of the randomness of the different ways in which the particles in a system can be arranged.
Residual Entropy: This entropy is related to the arrangement of magnetization or crystalline structure of a substance at very low temperatures.
Molar Entropy: Molar entropy is the amount of entropy per mole of a substance.
Thermal Entropy: The thermal entropy is defined as the thermal energy that a system has with respect to its surroundings.
Radiant Entropy: Radiant entropy is the measure of the amount of energy lost in the form of radiation by a system.
Kinetic Entropy: The entropy of the movement of the particles that comprise a system.
Chemical Entropy: Chemical entropy is the measure of the amount of energy lost or gained during a chemical reaction.
Information Entropy: It is the measure of randomness or disorder in information.
Gravitational Entropy: It is a measure that determines the amount of energy lost or gained due to gravitational forces in a thermodynamic system.
Irreversible Entropy: Irreversible entropy results from a system undergoing an irreversible process.
Reversible Entropy: Reversible entropy results from a system undergoing a reversible process.
"He defined it as the quotient of an infinitesimal amount of heat to the instantaneous temperature."
"Later coined the term entropy from a Greek word for transformation."
"Entropy is central to the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy of an isolated system left to spontaneous evolution cannot decrease with time."
"As a result, isolated systems evolve toward thermodynamic equilibrium, where the entropy is highest."
"Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann explained entropy as the measure of the number of possible microscopic arrangements or states of individual atoms and molecules of a system that comply with the macroscopic condition of the system."
"He thereby introduced the concept of statistical disorder and probability distributions into a new field of thermodynamics, called statistical mechanics."
"...a proportionality constant, the Boltzmann constant, that has become one of the defining universal constants..."
"In 1948, Bell Labs scientist Claude Shannon developed similar statistical concepts..."
"...measuring microscopic uncertainty and multiplicity to the problem of random losses of information in telecommunication signals."
"Upon John von Neumann's suggestion, Shannon named this entity of missing information in analogous manner to its use in statistical mechanics as entropy, and gave birth to the field of information theory."
"...the transmission of information in telecommunication."
"...interpret[ing] the concept as meaning disgregation."
"The thermodynamic concept was referred to by Scottish scientist and engineer William Rankine in 1850 with the names thermodynamic function and heat-potential."
"It has found far-ranging applications in chemistry and physics, in biological systems and their relation to life, in cosmology, economics, sociology, weather science, climate change, and information systems..."
"He initially described it as transformation-content, in German Verwandlungsinhalt..."
"Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann explained entropy as the measure of the number of possible microscopic arrangements or states of individual atoms and molecules of a system that comply with the macroscopic condition of the system."
"A consequence of the second law of thermodynamics is that certain processes are irreversible."
"...and later coined the term entropy from a Greek word for transformation."
"...Shannon named this entity of missing information in analogous manner to its use in statistical mechanics as entropy."