CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

Can anyone explain how they got to the conclusion that the cis molecule has more available states than the trans version of the molecule?

Considering positional disorder, would you expect a crystal of octahedral cis-MX2Y4 to have the same, higher, or lower residual entropy than the corresponding trans isomer? Explain your conclusion.

It's based on the degeneracy of the two respective molecules. The trans molecule has less possible equivalent energy states/positions of its elements than the cis model. If you draw out the two molecules and move the elements around while preserving their cis/trans conditions, you can see the cis has many more states than the trans.