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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999  > October  >
In the Classroom
Entropy, Disorder, and Freezing
Brian B. Laird
Department of Chemistry, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045
Cover
October 1999
Vol. 76 No. 10
p. 1388
Abstract
It is argued that the usual view that entropy is a measure of "disorder" is problematic and that there exist systems at high density, for which packing considerations dominate, where a spatially ordered state has a higher entropy than a disordered one. A classic example is a system of hard-sphere atoms, for which freezing is known to be purely entropy driven. Such a model has relevance to the real world, since it provides a good qualitative (and nearly quantitative) description of solid-liquid coexistence in simple systems such as argon. An analogy based on the packing of suitcases is given to illustrate the main point. A simple classroom demonstration is also described in which an analog simulation of the freezing of hard particles is performed.
More Information
*  Citation
 Laird, Brian B. J. Chem. Educ. 1999 76 1388.
*  Keywords
 Physical Chemistry; Introductory / High School Chemistry; Phase Transitions / Diagrams; Thermodynamics; Statistical Mechanics
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 September 6, 1999
June 23, 2005
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