Correction of error   In TalkEntropy of   October Bduke a distinguished physical chemist and Wikipedia contributor and editor erred seriously in two points Quoting him with my insertions of numbers  Maybe Frank Lamberts approach will spread  but have a look at  Atkins Physical Chemistry th edition where it has spread somewhat but the terms disorder and I think chaos are still used    In early October Bduke was not active in TalkEntropy and thus undoubtedly was unaware of httpenwikipediaorgwikiTalkEntropyNonnotableF of  October Therein his point   a questioning of the spread of an approach to entropy as the measure of the dispersal of energyT in a process is conclusively countered  That the majority of new editions of established US chemistry textbooks have adopted it within just three years of the publication of his principal articles is nothing less than astonishing support for the approach Sales figures are guarded by publishers but it is more probable than not that the majority of chemistry students in the US since Fall  have been taught this approach   Thus the approach has already spread remarkably widely  It is not an individuals POV Of course it may take a generation to reach all scientists and science texts That is the common history of new concepts is it not  But this approach already has been proved to have legs   Bdukes second point  is a grave error perhaps because he just received his copy of Atkins Physical Chemistry th edition and has had time only to scan it rapidly  My gift copy came in March and I know its comments re entropy well especially in comparison to previous editions The change is not somewhat but profound and thorough  In prior editions with his italics in the following quotes  Atkins defined spontaneous changes as accompanied by a dispersal of energy into a more disordered form  The direction of change he wrote is one that leads to the greater chaotic dispersal of the total energy  The spreading of the objects energy into the surroundings as thermal motion is a natural consequence of chaos  The thermodynamic definition of entropy is motivated by the idea that a change in the extent to which energy is dispersed chaotically can be derived by noting the quantity of energy that is transferred as heat sic  The definition of a spontaneous change and its interpretation is in terms of the tendency of an isolated system to achieve greater disorder  There are some  uses of the words order and disorder in discussing particular applications of entropy change  The foregoing is certainly an emphasis on disorder and chaos in interpreting entropy even when the dispersal of energy is associated with entropy change  Contrast this to the th edition with its numerous clear statements about entropy entropy change and the dispersal of energy never using disorder in connection with a definition of entropy  The word chaos does not appear in the Second Law chapter  I visually checked and computer wordsearched The words order or disorderly appear a total of  times  p  Can it bethat the direction of change is related to the distribution of energythis idea is the keyspontaneous changes are always accompanied by a dispersal of energy the signpost of spontaneous change we look for the direction of change that leads to dispersal of the total energy of the isolated system  p  in due course we shall see that dispersal of energy and matter accounts for change We shall see that the entropyis a measure of the energy dispersed in a processThe thermodynamic definition of entropy is motivated by the idea that a change in the extent to which energy is dispersed depends on how much energy is transferred as heat   p  The concept of the number of microstates makes quantitative the illdefined qualitative concepts of disorder and dispersal of matter and energy that are used widely to introduce the concept of entropy Note This quote appears to put disorder on an equal footing with the qualitative dispersal of matter and energy  However Atkins consistently uses dispersal of energy or of energy and matter in his qualitative definitions of entropy change whereas he has discarded that use of disorder in defining entropy here in this edition  p  re phase change This decrease in entropy is consistent with localization of matter and energy that accompanies the formation of a solid from a liquid  or a liquid from a gasIf the transition is endothermic as in melting vaporization the entropy change is positive which is consistent with dispersal of energy and matter in the system  p   Troutons rule strong molecular interactionAs a result there is a greate