text: what is the hydrophobic effect in simple terms?   all the previous answers are correct. however, with regards to enthalpy and entropy remember what these terms mean. while enthalpy is heat energy, entropy is (essentially) a universal tendency towards chaos. so, hydrophobic interactions decrease the total enthalpy of a system and (according to some fundamental physics) increase the entropy of that same system. the apparent paradox, proteins and lipids forming ordered systems ie. micelles, is disproven when we take into account the ordering of water around these systems. water molecules become much less ordered when hydrophobic components are allowed to form contacts. this is known as decreasing the hydration shell. thus, all hydrophobic interactions are typically exothermic in nature and cause an increase in enthalpy of the system. hope this helps!