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What is entropy? - Jeff Phillips

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9,872 Questions Answered

TEDEd Animation

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There’s a concept that’s crucial to chemistry and physics. It helps explain why physical processes go one way and not the other: why ice melts, why cream spreads in coffee, why air leaks out of a punctured tire. It’s entropy, and it’s notoriously difficult to wrap our heads around. Jeff Phillips gives a crash course on entropy.

Given that energy configuration A has 11,460 microstates and energy configuration has 3,820 microstates, how does the probability of energy configuration A occurring compare to the probability of B occurring?

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Jeff Phillips
  • Director Iuri Araujo, Guilherme Araujo
  • Script Editor Eleanor Nelsen
  • Animator Iuri Araujo, Guilherme Araujo
  • Compositor Andre Luiz Machado
  • Composer Andre Luiz Machado
  • Associate Producer Jessica Ruby
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Narrator Addison Anderson

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