Answer:
The process (salt dissolves in water) is spontaneous.
Step-by-step explanation:
Salts are ionic solids made of cations and anions. These ions forms crystal lattice through their ordered arrangement inside a crystal.
When salt dissolves in water, these ordered lattice structure of ions are ruptured by water molecules. In aqueous solution, ions with surrounding water molecules remain randomly dispersed.
Entropy of disordered state is greater than ordered state. So, change in entropy is positive on going from ordered state to disordered state. Thermodynamically, the process associated with positive change in entropy is spontaneous.
Hence the process (salt dissolves in water) is spontaneous.