Complete the statistical reading of the second law.
Entropy tends to increase because disordered configurations are ______ than ordered ones, not because order is forbidden.
Word bank: exactly as numerous · overwhelmingly more numerous · slightly fewer · physically impossible
Hints
- Go back to the count of microstates: how many favour the even split?
- The law is a statement about odds, not about prohibitions.
Show the answer
Entropy tends to increase because disordered configurations are overwhelmingly more numerous than ordered ones, not because order is forbidden.
With every microstate equally likely, a system is found in whichever macrostate owns the most of them, and spread-out macrostates own vastly more. For four particles the ratio is only 6 to 1, but for realistic numbers it becomes so lopsided that the tendency looks like an absolute law.
Practise Thermodynamics and Statistical Ideas
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