Imagine you write a '1' bit to a memory location - now you know for sure that the location contains '1' now, as you can check it anytime. But now you have absolutely no information about the past, either it was '1' before or '0'. So the number of legal states (and entropy) seemingly have decreased if you are considering this bit level macrostate. But according to the 2nd law the global entropy never decreases, so at least an equal entropy increase eventually should be there somewhere in the system (in the microstates - the states you did not considered as logically separate) - for example as a small heat increase.
So sad that even such a nice article, with so many smart people from the SFI to proof read it, still described entropy as disorder.
Sigh.
PS: before I get downvoted: [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropic_force#Hydrophobic_f... [2] http://glotzerlab.engin.umich.edu/home/publications-pdfs/201...
Those links appear to show examples of "spontaneous" decreases in entropy. The problem is that entropy can easily decrease in local systems, without violating thermodynamics or the fact that entropy as a whole always increases.
For example plant life can form, decreasing entropy, as long as on a global scale entropy increases.
On the other hand, if you're trying to say that disorder is a confusing term, then that's true. The every day meaning of disorder is often the opposite of what is meant when talking about entropy and thermodynamics. But if you take the word "disorder" in the thermodynamic sense, as a full microscopic description of the system, then an increase in entropy does imply an increase in disorder. So although it's a confusing term, it's still a valid description.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(order_and_disorder)
Yes, that is what I mean. The number of microstates can increase and yet make it look, to the eye, like the system is more ordered than before although entropy is increasing.
"Order out of Chaos" by Prigogine and Stengers, and "Into the Cool" by Sagan and Schneider would also be decent recommendations.
