Entropiegewinnen

Entropiegewinnen is a term used in some German‑language texts to denote the generation or increase of entropy within a system. While not part of the formal thermodynamics nomenclature, it appears in discussions of irreversibility, energy dissipation, and, in some contexts, information-theoretic considerations where entropy also measures uncertainty.

In thermodynamics, entropy generation occurs due to irreversible processes such as viscous dissipation, heat conduction with finite temperature differences, mass diffusion, chemical reactions, mixing, and phase changes. The second law of thermodynamics requires that the rate of entropy production is non‑negative.

From a formal perspective, the entropy balance for a control volume can be written as dS/dt = σ̇ + Σ (ṁ s)in − Σ (ṁ s)out, where σ̇ ≥ 0 represents the internal entropy production due to irreversibilities and (ṁ s) denote the entropy carried by matter across the boundaries. This distinction between entropy change and entropy production helps separate changes caused by interactions with the surroundings from those arising inside the system.

Practical implications include the optimization of processes to minimize entropy generation, thereby improving efficiency in engines, turbines, heat exchangers, and other energy systems. In broader contexts such as ecology or climate science, entropy production is used to describe how natural systems dissipate energy, and some approaches invoke the maximum entropy production principle, though its applicability remains a topic of debate.

Entropiegewinnen thus refers to the phenomenon of entropy increase within a system, aligning with the broader concept of irreversibility in physics and information theory.