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Entropy: qualitative treatment

  • 4 things to know
  • Components 01, 02 and 03

Overview

Recall questions on what entropy measures and its units, the order of the three states, and what melting or making more gas does to it.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

What are the units of entropy, how do the three states rank, and why does entropy rise on melting?

Key term

Why does the entropy of any substance increase as its temperature rises?

Key term

Why is counting the moles of gas on each side the quickest way to predict the sign of ΔsysS?

Key term

Why does mixing two gases increase the entropy?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What does entropy measure?

    Model answer

    It measures the number of ways in which the molecules of a system and their associated energy quanta can be arranged.

  2. 2

    What are the units of entropy?

    Model answer

    Entropy is measured in J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹.

  3. 3

    Place the solid, liquid and gas states of a substance in order of increasing entropy.

    Model answer

    Solid, then liquid, then gas, because the particles become progressively freer to move and can be arranged in far more ways.

  4. 4

    Why is the entropy of a gas so much greater than that of the corresponding liquid?

    Model answer

    The molecules of a gas move independently through the whole container, so there are vastly more ways of arranging both the molecules and their energy.

  5. 5

    Why does the entropy of a substance increase when it melts?

    Model answer

    The particles leave their fixed lattice positions and can move past one another, so many more arrangements become available.

  6. 6

    Why is the entropy increase on boiling much greater than the increase on melting?

    Model answer

    Boiling separates the particles completely and gives them the whole volume of the container, a far bigger change in freedom than the small loosening that happens on melting.

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