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• thermodynamics: an area of physics that studies changes in heat and energy
• increase: to grow larger in size or amount
• decrease: to grow smaller in size or amount
• chaos: a state of randomness and disorder
• infinite: endless, impossible to count or measure
• shatter: to break into small pieces

Listening activity

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Gapfill exercise

Entropy is an important concept in . It measures the amount of randomness in a system. A system in physics is any collection of . It can mean a few molecules or the entire universe. The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy tends to increase. A system can only decrease in entropy if it causes another system to increase in entropy. This is because there are always more possible states of chaos than states of order. As a result, the universe will always get more random and disordered over time. For example, there are only a few ways to clean a room, and it takes a lot of work. However, it is easy to mess up a clean room, and there are infinitely many ways to do it. Increasing entropy is the reason that glasses shatter but never put themselves back together. It is also the reason humans get but never younger. Because entropy always increases, we can only experience in one direction.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. Entropy is a measure of
   a. light
   b. reactivity
   c. randomness
   
2. In physics, a “system” is
   a. a group of subatomic particles
   b. a mix of different chemicals
   c. any collection of objects
   
3. For one system to _______ in entropy, another system has to _________ in entropy.
   a. increase, decrease
   b. decrease, increase
   c. decrease, decrease

Discussion/essay questions

1. Some scientists believe that the universe could be part of an even bigger system of universes. Do you think it is possible that there are other universes out there? Why or why not?

Transcript

Entropy is an important concept in physics. It measures the amount of randomness in a system. A system is any collection of objects. It can mean a few molecules or the entire universe. The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy always increases. A system can only decrease in entropy if it causes another system to increase in entropy. This is because there are always more possible states of chaos than states of order. As a result, the universe will always get more random and disordered over time. For example, there are only a few ways to clean a messy room, and it takes a lot of work. However, it is easy to mess up a clean room, and there are infinitely many ways to do it. Increasing entropy is the reason that glasses shatter but never put themselves back together. It is also the reason humans get older but never younger. Because entropy always increases, we can only experience time in one direction.

Answers to comprehension questions

1c 2c 3b