The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy of a closed system not at equilibrium will increase. In chemistry, entropy describes the randomness of molecules in a system and information theory defines it as uncertainty of a random variable. Shannon defined entropy as a measure of the information contained in the outcome.
Imagine that you have constructed a sand castle on the beach. Your construction has organized sand particles into a more complex structure and decreased the entropy of that small system. But eventually, either the waves or wind and rain will tear down the sand castle, reducing the organization to just more sand particles on the beach. That natural process is what The Second Law of Thermodynamics describes - things become disorganized over time, corresponding to a higher level of entropy. It is one of life's lessons - that things tear down, and mix into homogeneity over time.
Life however, has the appearance of being able to reverse entropy. When you built the sand castle, you organized the sand particles, decreasing entropy. Some physicists claim otherwise, saying that your body consumed energy to organize those particles and thus, the universe's entropy was not decreased, it increased as expected with the Second Law. Essentially they state that organization cannot be increased without decreasing the organization somewhere else in the universe.
Interestingly enough, in Origins and Destiny: A Scientist Examines God's Handiwork, Robert Ganges argues this also says that evolution violates the Second Law. He uses the Second Law and information theory to prove the Christian position that God created the world and that the world has been moving from order to chaos ever since.
Does nature break the Second Law of Thermodynamics explores the conundrum between entropy and life. As the Scientific American abstract explains, the authors' position is that most often in biological situations, the system is not at equilibrium and thus the Second Law does not apply. (Mmm. Seems like a worthless Law if we have to wait for equilibrium to apply it at the end of time.) After some additional discussion, they further state that maybe the Second Law permits pockets of organization while the larger system is being disorganized.
Hard to say isn't it? We can all accept that the sand castle represents a higher organization than the sand dispersed along the beach. Whether your act of construction increased the universe's entropy, is an interesting thought experiment.
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