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The universe
has a tendency to become more disorderly than it already is. We can think
of order as neatly stacking things and categorizing things together. However,
the universe doesn't like that very much...it wants everything strewn in
together. That is why there is dispersion. In equilibrium, there are usually
little to no concentrated areas...all are spread out evenly.
The change in entropy, between two equilibrium states is given by the heat transferred, divided by the absolute temperature of the system in this interval.
So, the age old question: Which way does heat flow? If you have a glass of water at room temperature with ice cubes it in it what happens? Does the water warm the ice or does the ice cool the water? Equivalent expressions, you might say, but according to physics, we think of heat flow. Where does the heat go? The water loses it's warmth to the cube. We can think of an ice cube as an object that has less heat. According to entropy, the heat equilizes the situation. |
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