Thermodynamics Directory | Heat Transfer Directory

Entropy (S) is a property of a substance, as are pressure, temperature, volume, and enthalpy. Because entropy is a property, changes in it can be determined by knowing the initial and final conditions of a substance. Entropy quantifies the energy of a substance that is no longer available to perform useful work. Because entropy tells so much about the usefulness of an amount of heat transferred in performing work, the steam tables include values of specific entropy (s = S/m) as part of the information tabulated. Entropy is sometimes referred to as a measure of the inability to do work for a given heat transferred. Entropy is represented by the letter S and can be defined as ΔS in the following relationships.

Like enthalpy, entropy cannot be measured directly. Also, like enthalpy, the entropy of a substance is given with respect to some reference value. For example, the specific entropy of water or steam is given using the reference that the specific entropy of water is zero at 32°F. The fact that the absolute value of specific entropy is unknown is not a problem because it is the change in specific entropy (Δs) and not the absolute value that is important in practical problems.

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