Configuration entropy
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Configuration entropy is the entropy associated with the geometric configuration of individual components comprising a distributed physical system. Configuration entropy of a given configuration can be evaluated using an adaptation of the Boltzmann formula of statistical thermodynamics,
where kB is the Boltzmann constant and W probability of this configuration. Probability W is the ratio between the number of possible (spatial) arrangements of system components that can give the current configuration and the total number of possible arrangements yielding all possible configurations of the system. Note that number of configurations is different from the number of arrangements, for instance, because each given configuration (overall geometry pattern of the system) may allow permutations of system components without changing this pattern. Example: permutation of individual monomers in a macromolecule.
In application to macromolecules, configuration entropy is also known as conformational entropy.
It can be shown[1] that the variation of configuration entropy of thermodynamic systems (e.g., ideal gas, and other systems with a vast number of internal degrees of freedom) on the course of thermodynamic processes is equivalent to the variation of the macroscopic entropy defined as dS = δQ/T, δQ amount of heat exchanged by the system with the surrounding media, and T system temperature. In application to thermodynamics systems, the Boltzmann equation shown in above is also known as microscopic definition of entropy.
[edit] References
- ^ Young, Hugh; Roger Freedman (2008). University Physics, 12th Ed., Pearson Education.
- Kroemer, Herbert; Charles Kittel (1980). Thermal Physics, 2nd Ed., W. H. Freeman Company.
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