Advanced Placement (AP) Biology 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

Question: 1 / 490

What does entropy measure in a system?

Energy potential

Order and stability

Temperature changes

Disorder and randomness

Entropy is a concept in thermodynamics that quantifies the degree of disorder or randomness in a system. It reflects the number of ways a system can be arranged while maintaining the same energy level; thus, a higher entropy indicates a greater level of disorder. In any given process, the total entropy of an isolated system will either increase or remain the same, as systems naturally progress towards a state of higher disorder over time, according to the second law of thermodynamics.

This understanding of entropy helps explain various phenomena in biology, such as the processes of diffusion, the unfolding of proteins, and the overall tendency of systems to evolve towards equilibrium states. Therefore, measuring entropy provides insights into the spontaneity of reactions and the direction in which a natural process will proceed.

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