Entropy

Episode #630

February 27, 2021

Entropy is a randomness that is opposite of all we know and love.

EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE IS CONSTANT:

The total energy of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed.
— First law of thermodynamics

DISORDER IS THE GOAL OF MAXIMUM RANDOMNESS:

Entropy (the degree of randomness) always increases with time.
— Second law of thermodynamics

ALL THINGS SEEK EQUILIBRIUM:

A system’s entropy approaches a constant value as its temperature approaches absolute zero.
— Third law of thermodynamics:

All things in the universe seek to be random.
All things seek homogeneity.

Light particles fly away from a source in all directions.

Energy imparts to a solid the state of liquid on its way to gas.
Gas fills a vessel homogeneously.

Rain water
that falls
on mount Cahuilla
strikes tree leaves,
wicks down stems
onto branches,
caresses branches
with surface tension,
forms rivulets
on trunks,
soaks into dust,
then into dirt,
pools on bedrock.
Water
is absorbed
into root hairs
by osmoses,
then up tree xylem,
defying gravity
it climbs back up the tree.
Water
which escapes roots
spreads across granite
until gravity pulls it
down vertical cracks
to horizontal cracks
to vertical
etc
becomes sub-ground springs.
Springs leap from ground,
become creeks,
streams,
rivers.
Water
joins aquifers
where my well pulls it up
keeping my family alive.
Gravity compels water
to the ocean,
it evaporates
into clouds
becoming rain.

A professor set out an empty jar in physics class and filled it with stones.
“Is the jar full?” he asked.
When the class answered “Yes” he added as many pebbles as would fit.
“Is it full now?”
After another “Yes” he added as much sand as the jar would hold.
“Now?” “Yes.”
He then topped it off with water.
Is the jar full?
What about the space between water molecules?
How about dark matter between quarks?
There is no end.

A virus will seek to infect every available host until complete saturation eliminates its environment.

Superstition and mythology spread in a population until a society is established around those beliefs. This cultural saturation defines the propagation and persistence of those beliefs.

When a baseball is hit it has enough kinetic energy to resist gravity. As the ball loses some energy to air molecules it succumbs to gravity and falls.
Energy seeks entropy.

The point of the story was lost in garrulous writing.

The universe began as a highly organized concentration of energy; a homogenous point containing everything.
As it expanded the energy of the universe coalesced into strange attractors, such as atoms, molecules, materials, organisms, planets, moons, stars, solar systems, galaxies and black holes.

All this energy, expanding at half the speed of light, is committed to filling the void of space.
Everything will decay into its elemental energy diffusing until it fills space becoming once again a highly organized concentration of homogenous energy.

In the meantime, we appreciate the strange attractors.

This planet, its materials, systems and organisms are who we are and what we love.