Practice question · Match the pairs
Match each entropy expression to what it describes.
- at 0 K
- The condition for a process to be spontaneous
- The absolute origin of the entropy scale
- The thermodynamic definition, via reversible heat
- The statistical definition, via microstate counting
Hints
- Two are definitions, one is a criterion, one is a reference point.
- The counting definition is Boltzmann’s.
Show the answer
- → The thermodynamic definition, via reversible heat
- → The statistical definition, via microstate counting
- → The condition for a process to be spontaneous
- at 0 K → The absolute origin of the entropy scale
Why
The first two are independent definitions that agree exactly; the third is the spontaneity criterion; the fourth is the third law, which makes absolute entropies tabulatable.
Practise Entropy and the Second Law
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