Which one of the following represents a decrease in entropy?

a) The evaporation of perfume.

b) The sublimation of carbon dioxide.

c) The melting of ice.

d) The condensation of steam on a kitchen window.

e) It is not possible to have a decrease in entropy

D

Explanation:

There are principally three states of matter. These are the solid, liquid and gaseous states. The gaseous state has the highest degree of disorderliness as gas particles can move randomly while the solid state has the highest level of compactness.

Hence, we need to be adequately fed with information as regards the phase change to know if entropy has decreased or increased.

A. is wrong

Evaporation is a change of state to the gaseous state meaning there is an increased entropy.

B. is wrong

Sublimation is a change of state which means a solid substance like iodine or naphthalene changes its state directly to the gaseous state. There is an increased entropy here too.

C is wrong

Melting of ice means going from ice block to liquid water. This is synonymous to going from the solid state to the liquid state which is an increased entropy

D is correct

Condensation involves going from the gaseous state to the liquid state. This means going from a less ordered state to a more ordered state. This is accompanied by an entropy decrease.

E is wrong

While there are some processes that increase entropy, we also have some process that decrease entropy.