Chemistry 28 – Honeycutt Science

Using Energy in the Real World

Chemistry is connected to other natural sciences. This topic explores an important intersection between chemistry and physics. When we use energy to do work, we degrade its usefulness. Two driving forces of nature include energy spread and matter spread. These driving forces are explained through a tendency in nature scientists call entropy. Entropy is a measure of disorder. As energy spread increases, entropy increases. So too, as matter spread increases, entropy increases. Further, we know from the second law of thermodynamics (an important scientific law in physics), that the entropy of the universe is always increasing. This topic makes connections between chemistry and physics by reviewing the relationship of chemical reactions and entropy.