New method to measure entropy production on the nanoscale

Entropy, the amount of molecular disorder, is produced in several systems but cannot be measured directly. An equation developed by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, and Heinrich Heine University ...

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Entropy could be key to a planet's habitability

We all know that to have life on a world, you need three critical items: water, warmth, and food. Now add to that a factor called "entropy." It plays a role in determining if a given planet can sustain and grow complex life.

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Entropy

Entropy is a concept applied across physics, information theory, mathematics and other branches of science and engineering. The following definition is shared across all these fields:

where S is the conventional symbol for entropy. The sum runs over all microstates consistent with the given macrostate and is the probability of the ith microstate. The constant of proportionality k depends on what units are chosen to measure S. When SI units are chosen, we have k = kB = Boltzmann's constant = 1.38066×10−23 J K−1. If units of bits are chosen, then k = 1/ln(2) so that .

Entropy is central to the second law of thermodynamics. The second law in conjunction with the fundamental thermodynamic relation places limits on a system's ability to do useful work.

The second law can also be used to predict whether a physical process will proceed spontaneously. Spontaneous changes in isolated systems occur with an increase in entropy.

The word "entropy" is derived from the Greek εντροπία "a turning towards" (εν- "in" + τροπή "a turning").

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA