Answer:
The process of a wet cloth being cooled by evaporation when hung in a hot wind in the desert can be explained by the second law of thermodynamics, as the evaporation of water molecules from the cloth increases their entropy and absorbs heat energy from the surrounding air, which causes the temperature of the wet cloth to decrease, and increases the overall entropy of the system.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process of a wet cloth being cooled by evaporation when hung in a hot wind in the desert can be explained by the second law of thermodynamics. The second law states that entropy, or disorder, in a closed system will always increase over time.
When the wet cloth is hung in the hot wind, water evaporates from the cloth, absorbing heat energy from the surrounding air in the process. This causes the temperature of the wet cloth to decrease. In the process of evaporation, the entropy of the water molecules in the cloth increases, as they gain kinetic energy and escape into the air as water vapor. The entropy of the air molecules surrounding the cloth also increases, as they absorb the heat energy released by the evaporating water and become more disordered.
This process of evaporation, in which the wet cloth loses heat energy and becomes cooler, is an example of a process that increases the overall entropy of the system. This is in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics, which states that entropy in a closed system will always increase over time.
The cooling provided by the evaporation is due to the energy required to change the phase of the water from liquid to gas, this process is known as heat of vaporization, which is endothermic, meaning it absorb heat energy from the surrounding and hence the wet cloth is cooled.