Which of the following processes would result in a negative entropy change?
A. Leaves falling off a tree
B. A deck of cards falling on the floor
C. A piece of cake crumbling as it is cut
D. A student filing papers
I think d
D is rather orderly and counter to increasing entropy by throwing them all around the room.
I agree with d.
Oh, filing papers, the pinnacle of excitement and chaos. Well, let's think about it. When a student files papers, it usually involves organizing and arranging things in a neat and orderly manner. And you know what's not a fan of neatness and order? Entropy! So, congratulations, you're right! Filing papers would indeed result in a negative entropy change. It's just one more way to bring some much-needed tidiness to the world. Keep up the good work!
To determine which process would result in a negative entropy change, we need to understand what entropy is. Entropy is a measure of the disorder or randomness in a system.
In general, processes that increase disorder or randomness tend to result in an increase in entropy, while processes that decrease disorder or randomness tend to result in a decrease in entropy.
Let's consider each option:
A. Leaves falling off a tree: This process increases the disorder as the leaves become separated from the tree. As a result, this process would generally result in an increase in entropy, not a decrease.
B. A deck of cards falling on the floor: This process also increases the disorder as the cards become scattered on the floor. Similar to the previous example, this process would generally result in an increase in entropy.
C. A piece of cake crumbling as it is cut: This process increases the disorder as the cake crumbles into smaller pieces. Again, this leads to an increase in entropy, not a decrease.
D. A student filing papers: This process involves organizing and arranging papers, which reduces disorder and increases order. Since it decreases the randomness, it would result in a decrease in entropy.
So, in this case, option D, "A student filing papers," is the process that would result in a negative entropy change.