Final answer:
The natural tendency for all things to minimize energy and move towards disorder is called entropy, a concept from the second law of thermodynamics. Entropy increases or remains constant in a system unless energy is added, which can decrease entropy within that system.
Step-by-step explanation:
The natural tendency for all things to minimize energy and to increase the disorder of a system is known as entropy. This concept is central to the second law of thermodynamics, which states that all spontaneous processes result in increased or constant total entropy of a system. Essentially, in the absence of any input of energy, everything tends to move toward a state of higher entropy, or greater disorder.
Entropy can be counteracted by the input of energy into a system, which can decrease entropy within the system, often by fueling endergonic reactions that require energy to proceed. However, the overall entropy of the universe still increases. The exact measure of entropy is a bit more complicated; it's a quantitative representation of disorder or randomness in a system, and relates to the number of ways the components of a system can be arranged.