1865 Definition
In 1865, Clausius gave irreversible heat loss, or what he had previously been calling "equivalence-value", a name:
| “ | I propose to name the quantity S the entropy of the system, after the Greek word, the transformation. I have deliberately chosen the word entropy to be as similar as possible to the word energy: the two quantities to be named by these words are so closely related in physical significance that a certain similarity in their names appears to be appropriate. | ” |
Although Clausius did not specify why he chose the symbol "S" to represent entropy, it is arguable that Clausius chose "S" in honor of Sadi Carnot, to whose 1824 article Clausius devoted over 15 years of work and research. On the first page of his original 1850 article "On the Motive Power of Heat, and on the Laws which can be Deduced from it for the Theory of Heat", Clausius calls Carnot the most important of the researchers in the theory of heat.
Read more about this topic: History Of Entropy
Famous quotes containing the word definition:
“The very definition of the real becomes: that of which it is possible to give an equivalent reproduction.... The real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced. The hyperreal.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)