Section 3: Entropy

A reaction can be spontaneous regardless of the sign of ΔH. For example, commercial hot packs and cold packs both use spontaneous reactions, but in a hot pack heat flows out (ΔH<0) and in a cold pack heat flows in (ΔH>0). While enthalpy plays a role in spontaneity, it is not the only factor. In this section, we will introduce a new thermodynamics state function, entropy (S). Together, the entropy and enthalpy changes during a reaction process dictate whether or not a reaction is spontaneous.