In thermodynamics, the interpretation of entropy as a measure of energy dispersal has been exercised against the background of the traditional view, introduced by Ludwig Boltzmann, of entropy as a quantitative measure of disorder. The energy dispersal approach avoids the ambiguous term 'disorder'. An early advocate of the energy dispersal conception was Edward A. Guggenheim in 1949, using the word 'spread'.[1][2]
In this alternative approach, entropy is a measure of energy dispersal or spread at a specific temperature. Changes in entropy can be quantitatively related to the distribution or the spreading out of the energy of a thermodynamic system, divided by its temperature.
Some educators propose that the energy dispersal idea is easier to understand than the traditional approach. The concept has been used to facilitate teaching entropy to students beginning university chemistry and biology.
- ^ Dugdale, J.S. (1996). Entropy and its Physical Meaning, Taylor & Francis, London, ISBN 0-7484-0568-2, Dugdale cites only Guggenheim, on page 101.
- ^ Guggenheim, E.A. (1949), Statistical basis of thermodynamics, Research: A Journal of Science and its Applications, 2, Butterworths, London, pp. 450–454.