Answer to Question #318245 in General Chemistry for Jumyr

Question

The rusting of iron is a spontaneous and it's accompanied by a decrease in the entropy of the system(the iron and officer. What can we conclude about the entropy change of surrounding

Answer 1

Rusting involves a decrease in system entropy, but causes an even greater increase in the entropy of the surroundings. This is because it is an exothermic reaction, releasing heat energy to the surrounding molecules, increasing their disorder.