Introduction One of the most important concepts in thermodynamics is entropy. In thermodynamics, a system is any region of space that you want to study. Entropy is a thermodynamic property of a system just like temperature, pressure and composition. Specifically, entropy is a measure of the randomness of a system and has units of joules per kelvin. A joule is a measurement of energy and a kelvin is a measurement of temperature. A system whose members are highly randomized is said to be highly disordered and therefore has higher entropy. Conversely, if the members of a system are highly ordered, the system is said to have low entropy. Entropy is also the basis of the Second Law of Thermodynamics which states that the entropy of a system always increases (Nave, 2000). This explains why in nature things tend to go from ordered to disorganized states. For example, rooms tend to get disorganized, ice tends to melt, objects tend to break, etc. Etymology The term entropy was first coined by the German physicist Rudolph Clausius in 1865 (Weisstein, 2007). In Germany the word was originally known as entropy and Clausius used it as an analogy for the German word energie. The word comes from the Greek word entropia which means “to turn towards” (Harper, 2010). After formulating the term entropy, Clausius wrote: “I intentionally constructed the word entropy to be as similar as possible to the word energy…” (Baierlein, 1992). From this it is clear that the word entropy was based on the word energy to show the physical similarity of the two quantities. Despite this, the definition of entropy may not be immediately clear from the etymology, but it does imply that the word implies change. This is in fact...... half of the document...... Academic OneFile via Gale:http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/start.do?prodId=AONE&userGroupName=gain40375Claude Shannon (1916-) and communication theory. (1996). Retrieved from http://www.exploratorium.edu/complexity/CompLexicon/Shannon.htmlHarper, D. (2010). Online etymological dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=entropy&searchmode=noneInformation Theory. (2011). In the Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/287907/information-theoryNave, R. (2000). Entropy as an arrow of time. Retrieved from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/therm/entrop.htmlSecond law of thermodynamics. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.allaboutscience.org/second-law-of-thermodynamics.htmWeisstein, E. W. (2007). Clausius, Rudolf (1822-1888). Retrieved from http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Clausius.html