The Laws of Thermodynamics

Free Response

Imagine an elaborate ant farm with tunnels and passageways through the sand where ants live in a large community. Now imagine that an earthquake shook the ground and demolished the ant farm. In which of these two scenarios, before or after the earthquake, was the ant farm system in a state of higher or lower entropy?

Hint:

The ant farm had lower entropy before the earthquake because it was a highly ordered system. After the earthquake, the system became much more disordered and had higher entropy.

Energy transfers take place constantly in everyday activities. Think of two scenarios: cooking on a stove and driving. Explain how the second law of thermodynamics applies to these two scenarios.

Hint:

While cooking, food is heating up on the stove, but not all of the heat goes to cooking the food, some of it is lost as heat energy to the surrounding air, increasing entropy. While driving, cars burn gasoline to run the engine and move the car. This reaction is not completely efficient, as some energy during this process is lost as heat energy, which is why the hood and the components underneath it heat up while the engine is turned on. The tires also heat up because of friction with the pavement, which is additional energy loss. This energy transfer, like all others, also increases entropy.