It was really interesting to see today Kayli's demonstration of what a spontaneous reaction can look like. You know, I can't help but think about how a large majority of reactions we have done in lab are spontaneous reactions. It seems as if a lot of reactions in nature are actually spontaneous, and yet there are still quite a few times in which we have to continually input energy in order to maintain the reaction. It certainly is easy to tell the difference between the two though, since if a reaction starts and keeps going without us doing anything it must be spontaneous.
But why do you think that might happen? According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, it seems as if the universe will actually move towards disorder on its own. What do you think this might mean in terms of reactions? What would be classified as "orderly" and "disorderly"?
Just some fruit for thought, see you all either tomorrow in lab or in class on Wednesday.
Matt
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