Highly ordered crystals with very low entropy grow "spontaneously" in the evaporation of the liquid from saturated solutions [ which then become supersaturated ]. There, high order and low specific probability or entropy is achieved only at the expense of lower order and increased entropy of the surroundings. The total probability of entropy [ better : The total entropy ] of the entire system (water, crystals, air, vapor, etc.) must increase although the entropy of a part, the crystals, decreases. (p.146/7). [ . . . ]back to main textAbout 540 calories of heat are released upon condensation of steam to a gram of liquid. About 80 calories upon freezing the liquid to ice. Does the decrease in entropy accompanying the condensation and freezing violate the Second Law? No. Upon condensing or freezing, the released heat increases the entropy of the surroundings so that the overall entropy is not decreased.
The symmetry of water vapor, as a homogeneous macroscopic body, has maximal symmetry. As a liquid, the water has lower symmetry, but still a considerable high one, while as a crystal the symmetry is reduced still further, namely to hexagonal symmetry, with, consequently, few symmetries (reflections, rotations). The forces, mentioned, are forces that are the result of potential energy, which is converted to actual energy upon condensation or freezing. ]. Even as energy is required to tear the molecules making up a crystal from one another, energy is given off when free molecules are attached to the lattice. The Second Law tells us that energy is necessarily given off upon the increase in order accompanying a phase change that reduces symmetry. (p.147/8).
Where did the heat energy emitted in condensation and freezing come from when the gas changed to water and then to ice? They came from the forces that constrain the water molecules and destroy the symmetry [