What is entropy: Importantly

Importantly,entropyis a state function, like temperature or pressure, as opposed to a path function, like heat or work. This means that as a system changes inentropy, the change only depends on the entropies of the initial and final states, rather than the sequence (“path”) taken between the states. Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann explainedentropyas 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. Sep 7, 2024 ·Entropy isa measure of the disorder or randomness of a system.Learn how to calculate entropy, its relation to the second law of thermodynamics, and its applications in physics, chemistry, and cosmology. Dec 2, 2020 ·It allows for the possibility thatentropycan in theory decrease, just like it is always technically possible to flip all heads or all tails—it is simply very unlikely. In other words, while it is overwhelmingly likely for the universe’sentropyto increase, it is not necessary.