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Astrophysics/Proper symbol for Entropy?

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Expert: - 7/29/2010


Question
Hi... I was wondering what the proper symbol for entropy would be regarding the tendency of the universe toward chaos instead of order. I've seen the symbol S used for entropy, but I'm not sure that's for the same meaning as this context.

Thanks,

Pete

Answer
There's no such thing as a "proper" symbol in physics.  There's just a chosen symbol.  If you were to write a sentence in a scientific paper containing the snippet "S, where S is the entropy of the universe," then you had chosen a symbol and explained what it meant.  S is perfectly good.  Also, the universe tends towards disorder, not chaos.  In "chaos," as physicists define it, patterns are still present.

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Steve Nelson

Expertise

Fusion, solar flares, cosmic rays, radiation in space, and stellar physics questions. Generally, nuclear-related astrophysics, but I can usually point you in the right direction if it's not nuclear-related or if it's nuclear but not astrophysics.

Experience

Currently a physics professor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Doctoral dissertation was on a reaction in CNO-cycle fusion, worked in gamma-ray astronomy in the space science division of the naval research laboratory in the high-energy space environment branch.

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Physics professor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

Education/Credentials
Ph.D. in physics, research was on nuclear fusion reactions important in stellar fusion.

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