Coined by Clausius in 1865 from Greek 'en' + 'trope' (transformation) — shaped to echo 'energy.' Measures disorder.
A thermodynamic quantity measuring the degree of disorder or randomness in a system; the tendency of systems to move from order toward disorder.
Coined in 1865 by the German physicist Rudolf Clausius as 'Entropie,' deliberately modelled on 'Energie' ('energy'). Clausius constructed it from Greek 'ἐν' (en, 'in') and 'τροπή' (tropē, 'transformation, turning'), from 'τρέπειν' (trepein, 'to turn, to transform'). He chose 'τροπή' because entropy measures a system's capacity for transformation. Clausius wrote: 'I
Clausius deliberately crafted 'Entropie' to rhyme with 'Energie' because the two quantities are deeply linked in thermodynamics. He wanted the linguistic similarity to telegraph the physical relationship. The second law of thermodynamics — that entropy in a closed system always increases — has been called 'the supreme law of nature' and even cited in poetry: 'Things