Entropy
Short Description of Topic
The Main Idea
Entropy is an important idea as it is crucial to both the fields of physics and chemistry, but often times hard to understand. The traditional definition of entropy is "the degree of disorder or randomness in the system" (Merriam). This definition can however can get lost on some people. A good way to visualize how entropy works is to think of it as a probability distribution with energy. In a sample space which includes two models and 8 quanta, you can configure each quanta to any system you like. All 8 quanta could go to one system, or they can be evenly distributed. If there each systems have equal probabilities of quanta levels, then a whole distribution can be formed around it. In this model, the probability that the energy will reach equilibrium is the highest, while scenarios where all the quanta is located in exclusively one of the two models have the lowest probability. In this way the new definition of entropy becomes "the direct measure of each energy configuration's probability."
A Mathematical Model
What are the mathematical equations that allow us to model this topic. For example [math]\displaystyle{ {\frac{d\vec{p}}{dt}}_{system} = \vec{F}_{net} }[/math] where p is the momentum of the system and F is the net force from the surroundings.
A Computational Model
How do we visualize or predict using this topic. Consider embedding some vpython code here Teach hands-on with GlowScript
Examples
Be sure to show all steps in your solution and include diagrams whenever possible
Simple
Middling
Difficult
Connectedness
- How is this topic connected to something that you are interested in?
- How is it connected to your major?
- Is there an interesting industrial application?
History
Put this idea in historical context. Give the reader the Who, What, When, Where, and Why.
See also
Are there related topics or categories in this wiki resource for the curious reader to explore? How does this topic fit into that context?
Further reading
Books, Articles or other print media on this topic
External links
Internet resources on this topic
References
This section contains the the references you used while writing this page