Scientists go to great lengths to measure the physical universe. An item that comes into scrutiny is the measure of the ‘order’ of a system. A measure of order can be observed using an energy ruler: how much energy does a system have?, is the energy of the system increasing or decreasing?, how fast is it changing?, and similar thoughts. Our natural, observable systems leads us to the conclusion that things seem to run down, mountains tend to crumble, rot eats the side of the house, glasses break when they hit the floor, rooms and paperwork take effort to keep in a certain order, the lack of effort into a task seldom accomplishes the desired result, fire destroys…
So what do we call this overall concept of order or disorder? Entropy!
Perhaps the simplest definition of entropy is that it measures the disorder of a system.
Examples:
a cooked meal has more order than the ingredients from which it was created: essentially less disorder, lower entropy
a chemical reaction that gives off heat energy arrives at a more disorderly condition, higher entropy
businesses that create a clear communication system between employees have higher order, lower entropy
leaving a car to rust away in a field brings disorder, higher entropy
Sometimes ‘higher order’ and ‘lower entropy’ seems a bit confusing. The entire universe is essentially in a highly disordered condition. Yet, as we live our lives each day we see the myriad of examples of order: pencils, clothing, gasoline, living organisms creating higher order products, passing on life itself. Inanimate items don’t create something of order by themselves. It takes an increasing level of order to change disorder, which then reduces the entropy of that system.
So is the universe headed to an ‘entropic’ ending? By all means of observation, the answer is yes. Systems and order degrade over time. Yet, this conclusion seems to contain a single exception to the rule: life as we know it.
Toss a coin, heads or tails. Imagine tossing the coin and after 5 successive tosses of ‘heads’ one suspects that a ‘tails’ should appear soon. Another another 10 tosses and ‘heads’ keeps occurring. Something is not correct, not natural, not right. The results around us indicate that order has been created out of disorder. How long will this continue?
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Could life be the highly improbable exception of the universe?
How long will our existence reduce entropy?
Is it possible that our very existence is a series of successive reductions in entropy?
Look around. Take in the entropy of any situation. Order (lower entropy) or Disorder (higher entropy)
What part does our will play in our personal measure of orderliness?
Do each of us add or subtract from the entropy of our global situation?
So what do we call this overall concept of order or disorder? Entropy!
Perhaps the simplest definition of entropy is that it measures the disorder of a system.
Examples:
a cooked meal has more order than the ingredients from which it was created: essentially less disorder, lower entropy
a chemical reaction that gives off heat energy arrives at a more disorderly condition, higher entropy
businesses that create a clear communication system between employees have higher order, lower entropy
leaving a car to rust away in a field brings disorder, higher entropy
Sometimes ‘higher order’ and ‘lower entropy’ seems a bit confusing. The entire universe is essentially in a highly disordered condition. Yet, as we live our lives each day we see the myriad of examples of order: pencils, clothing, gasoline, living organisms creating higher order products, passing on life itself. Inanimate items don’t create something of order by themselves. It takes an increasing level of order to change disorder, which then reduces the entropy of that system.
So is the universe headed to an ‘entropic’ ending? By all means of observation, the answer is yes. Systems and order degrade over time. Yet, this conclusion seems to contain a single exception to the rule: life as we know it.
Toss a coin, heads or tails. Imagine tossing the coin and after 5 successive tosses of ‘heads’ one suspects that a ‘tails’ should appear soon. Another another 10 tosses and ‘heads’ keeps occurring. Something is not correct, not natural, not right. The results around us indicate that order has been created out of disorder. How long will this continue?
============================
Could life be the highly improbable exception of the universe?
How long will our existence reduce entropy?
Is it possible that our very existence is a series of successive reductions in entropy?
Look around. Take in the entropy of any situation. Order (lower entropy) or Disorder (higher entropy)
What part does our will play in our personal measure of orderliness?
Do each of us add or subtract from the entropy of our global situation?