[Home]Entropy

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Entropy (S) is a measure for the part of energy of a system which cannot be used to do work. In a wider sense, it can also be interpreted as a measure for the disorder of a system.

Entropy is defined as

S = k ln Ω

where k is Boltzman's constant and Ω is the number of possible states that a system may be in. This definition of entropy is similar to the definition of entropy in information theory and therefore reveals deep connections between information theory and thermodynamics.


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Last edited December 18, 2001 4:53 pm by 129.132.139.xxx (diff)
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