One of the goals of thermodynamics is to account for the directionality of spontaneous processes.
The first law of thermodynamics, concerned with the conservation of energy does not help in this regard.
In this lecture, we introduce the state function, entropy and show that it can lead to predictions about the direction of spontaneous change. We concentrate on the statistical interpretation of entropy and show how it is connected to disorder.
To prepare for this lecture, we suggest that you read sections 8-1 and 8-2 of Oxtoby.
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