Monday, 21 September 2015

thermodynamics - If entropy is a measure of disorder, how come mixing water and oil finishes in a well ordered, separate state?



By the second law of thermodynamics, entropy tends to increase when the system is let on itself. And if entropy is a measure of disorder, how come mixing oil in water and letting the system reach equilibrium, ends up with the oil and water well separated? I see no disorder whatsoever, while in reality the entropy increased compared to the initial state (oil and water seemingly well mixed by e.g. shaking the container).




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