Comment by HelloNurse

Comment by HelloNurse 11 hours ago

But "disordered" and "ordered" states are just what we define them to be: for example, cords are "tangled" only because we would prefer arrangements of cords with less knots, and knots form because someone didn't handle the cords carefully.

Physical processes are "real", but entropy is a figment.

dekken_ 10 hours ago

I believe you are correct.

Entropy is not a physical quantity, it is a measure of how far a system is from equilibrium.

Lots of people talk about order/disorder or macro and micro states, not realizing these are things we've invented and aren't physical in nature.

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kgwgk 8 hours ago

> Entropy is not a physical quantity, it is a measure of how far a system is from equilibrium.
That’s funny because the original thermodynamic entropy is defined only for systems in equilibrium.

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- dekken_ 4 hours ago
  
  from who? Clausius?
  It doesn't make a lot of sense to me because a system at equilibrium, cannot go undergo any further diffusion, so there's no potential "entropy increase"
  Maybe the issue, is that, like an ideal gas, a perfect equilibrium just doesn't occur.
  
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- [removed] 6 hours ago
  
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