Which of the following processes is expected to have the largest positive change
Practice Questions
Q1
Which of the following processes is expected to have the largest positive change in entropy?
Dissolving salt in water
Condensing steam
Melting ice
Combining hydrogen and oxygen gases
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
Which of the following processes is expected to have the largest positive change in entropy?
Step 1: Understand what entropy means. Entropy is a measure of disorder or randomness in a system.
Step 2: Identify the processes being compared. Look for processes that involve changes in the number of particles or states of matter.
Step 3: Consider the process of dissolving salt in water. When salt (solid) dissolves, it breaks into individual ions (particles).
Step 4: Recognize that the number of particles increases when salt dissolves. More particles mean more possible arrangements, which increases disorder.
Step 5: Compare this to other processes. If other processes do not increase the number of particles as much, they will have a smaller change in entropy.
Step 6: Conclude that dissolving salt in water is expected to have the largest positive change in entropy due to the significant increase in the number of particles.
