Entropy is the measure of a system's thermal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work, and so also a measure of the disorder, or randomness, of a system. The entropy of an isolated system never decreases, which is the physical content of the second law of thermodynamics. Ludwig Boltzmann later gave entropy a statistical meaning, relating it to the number of microscopic arrangements consistent with a system's observable state.
Facts
Proposed Year Proposed ByRudolf Clausius, who introduced the term in 1865 for the thermodynamic quantity; Ludwig Boltzmann gave it a statistical formulation in the 1870s, relating entropy to the number of microscopic arrangements of a system. 1 Connections
Associated With
Belongs To
Source Entropy (Britannica)
Proposed By
Boltzmann's specific contribution is the statistical formulation of entropy (the Boltzmann entropy formula), distinct from Clausius's original 1865 thermodynamic definition of the term.
Source Ludwig Boltzmann (Britannica)
Source Rudolf Clausius (Britannica)
Studied In
Source Sadi Carnot (Britannica)
Sources
1. Entropy (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Sadi Carnot (Britannica)
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