Question

Why doesn’t a broken wineglass spontaneously fix itself, from a thermodynamic point of view?

1.) Fixing a wineglass is an endothermic change, requiring lots of heat.
2.) Fixing a wineglass requires a large increase in entropy.
3.) Fixing a wineglass requires a large decrease in entropy.
4.) Fixing a wineglass is an exothermic change, producing lots of heat.

Answer 1

Fixing a wineglass will require a large decrease in entropy.

Answer 2

The answer is the option 3.) Fixing a wineglass requires a large decrease in entropy.



Entropy is a termodynamical variable and it is defined as the degree of disorder of the system.



As per the second law of thermodynamics the spontaneous changes only occur when the entropy increases.



Fixing the broken glasses by itself meant to decrease the entropy spontaneusly which violate the principle or second law of thermodynamics. So, it is not possible.