Final answer:
The entropy increases when a liquid vaporizes to become a gas because the gas particles have more freedom and a greater number of microstates, which leads to a higher level of disorder.
Step-by-step explanation:
Yes, the entropy increases when a liquid vaporizes to become a gas because the particles in a gas state have more freedom of motion compared to those in the liquid state. This additional freedom leads to a greater number of possible microstates for the molecules, which corresponds to higher entropy. Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system, and during the vaporization process, since the molecules are much further apart and move more freely, the disorder of the system increases.
There are several factors that lead to entropy increase:
When a substance undergoes a phase change from liquid to gas (vaporization), there is an increase in entropy because the gas particles are more disordered than in the liquid state.
Substances with higher temperatures typically have higher entropy as the particles have greater kinetic energy.
When a system increases in the number of particles or the complexity of molecules, entropy tends to increase as well.
As such, when a gas condenses to become a liquid, the entropy decreases, hinting at a more orderly state compared to the dispersed nature of a gas.