What is entropy?

In 1865 the term entropy was devised by a German physicist Rudolf Clausius. The online etymology meaning of entropy is “in a turning”, more like inside a transformation and it indicated “energy”,

But the second law of thermodynamics stated that the entropy of the universe tends towards maximum. It also meant that entropy of perfectly isolated stuff must always escalate. I.e. as long as you contemplate everything the entropy escalates.

We know that molecules possess energy because they wiggle around and nudge each other, but individual molecules do not possess entropy.

It is something we call an emergent property that arises when the whole is more than the sum of its parts, just like you.

Entropy emerges when there are enough molecules in one place for statistics to become salient. It takes analogize to comprehend the entropy.

Contents

Uh, what?

let’s comprehend with an example

We drop a rock from a cliff. In the genesis, the energy is good and packed inside the rock, but the moment the rock hits the floor the energy is spread out into the air and ground, and some leftovers in the rock, so there is an increase in disorder of energy.

But do you why it’s disordered? because the universe lost track of the energy’s origins.

I need a more vivid definition

Okay, contemplate about entropy through probability. Energy is a direct measure of each energy configuration probability, where most of it is spread out between things, this will have high entropy. So you might deduce to the definition that entropy is a measurement of energy spread, where low entropy means energy is concentrated and high entropy means it’s spread out.

Always look at the dynamic system where the energy moves.

Energy sure doesn’t stay put, it has a continuous movement between the bonds, which has its configurations altered.

higher entropy is always statistically more likely so it is also known as time’s arrow.

But then one of the best definitions is that entropy is a measure of the disorder of energy of a collection of particles, i.e. it’s the measure of a system’s thermal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work. Because work is obtained from ordered molecular motion, but it’s misleading.

The concept is crucial and it’s notoriously strenuous to wrap our heads around.