ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Loop entropy

Okay, kiddo, so you know how some things are like circles or loops that go around and around? Well, imagine a really long string that you can shape into a loop. Scientists call this a polymer. Now, when that polymer loop is just hanging out by itself, it's all wiggly and jiggly - kind of like how spaghetti looks in a bowl of soup.

But when other things come along, like other molecules or even water, they can stick to the polymer loop and change the way it moves around. This is called loop entropy - it's like the polymer loop is getting stuck in traffic and can't move around as much as it wants to.

Scientists study loop entropy because it's important for understanding how different molecules interact with each other, and how they can affect each other's movements. So even though it's a fancy-sounding term, loop entropy is really just about spaghetti-like strings getting slowed down by other things.