- #1
epsaliba
- 15
- 0
I am a general chemistry student and I find thermodynamics fascinating. However, I have a hard time visualizing entropy. Can somebody please explain how an increase in entropy can make a process that is endothermic spontaneous? The typical demonstration of entropy that I have seen is on in which marbles are placed in beakers and the number of ways that they can be arranged. However, this only demonstrates an increase in entropy for a process in which ΔU=0. I was wondering if there is a good way to demonstrate how an increase in entropy can make something go against what its internal energy is telling it to do. I am familiar with most entropy equations, but I am looking for a description of what is actually going on. For example, the internal energy is equal to the sum of all of the kinetic energies of the particles in a system. If I had say three particles, how could I describe the entropy of those three particles? And how could I cause them to increase there internal energy simply by increasing the entropy? I seems to me that my lack of knowledge of the location and velocity of the particles doesn't have anything to do with whether they have the energy to do something or not. Thanks