Kara Sears
The second law of thermodynamics is a fundamental law of nature that establishes the concept of entropy as a physical property of a thermodynamic system. It states that the total entropy of a system will either increase or remain constant in any spontaneous process, but never decrease. This is because entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system, and as systems tend to move from ordered behaviour to more random behaviour, the level of disorder in the universe steadily increases over time. While it is possible for the entropy of one part of the universe to decrease, the total change in entropy of the universe will always be an increase. For example, when heat is extracted from water during refrigeration, the temperature and entropy of the water decrease as the system moves away from uniformity with its warm surroundings. However, the overall entropy of the rest of the universe increases by a greater amount, resulting in an overall increase in entropy.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Entropy | A measure of the disorder of a system |
| Second Law of Thermodynamics | Heat always flows spontaneously from hotter to colder regions of matter |
| Entropy of the entire universe will always increase over time | |
| Entropy of a system either increases or remains constant in any spontaneous process | |
| Entropy can decrease at any particular location as long as the total change in entropy of the universe increases | |
| Entropy can decrease by means of energy and entropy transfer | |
| Entropy is a useful state variable |
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What You'll Learn
Energy transfer is necessary for entropy decrease
The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a system increases or remains constant in any spontaneous process; it never decreases. Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system and the availability of energy to do work. The more disordered a system is and the higher the entropy, the less of a system's energy is available to do work.
While it is true that the total entropy of a system never decreases, it is possible for the entropy of one part of the system to decrease as long as the total change in entropy of the system increases. For example, when heat is extracted from water during refrigeration, the temperature and entropy of the water decrease. However, this process requires a source of work, designed equipment, and operational instructions. Similarly, when solar energy is stored in the form of chemical potential energy by plants, or when an updraft of warm air lifts a soaring bird, Earth experiences local decreases in entropy. These local decreases in entropy are possible because the overall entropy of the universe increases by a greater amount due to the massive energy transfer from the sun.
It is important to note that the second law of thermodynamics applies to isolated systems, and the Earth is not an isolated system. The constant energy increases on Earth due to the heat coming from the sun contribute to the overall increase in entropy of the universe. The sun releases energy and becomes disordered, resulting in a more disorganized universe even as order and complexity may increase in specific regions, such as through the evolution of living systems.
In summary, while the total entropy of a system never decreases according to the second law of thermodynamics, local decreases in entropy can occur through energy transfer and work. These local decreases contribute to an overall increase in entropy, as the universe becomes more disorganized due to the constant release of energy from sources like the sun.
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Earth experiences local entropy decreases
The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a system will either increase or remain constant in any spontaneous process; it will never decrease. This law is based on universal empirical observation concerning heat and energy interconversions. Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system, and the more disordered a system is, the higher its entropy.
While the second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a system will never decrease, it is possible for the entropy of one part of the universe to decrease, as long as the total change in entropy of the universe increases. For example, when energy from the sun is used to do work on Earth, the entropy of the local system decreases, but the overall entropy of the universe increases by a greater amount. This is because the sun releases energy and becomes disordered, increasing the overall entropy of the universe.
The Earth experiences local entropy decreases due to the constant energy increases it receives from the sun. Every time a plant stores solar energy in the form of chemical potential energy, or an updraft of warm air lifts a bird, Earth experiences local decreases in entropy as it uses part of the energy transfer from the sun to do work.
Additionally, the Earth system is unique in that it exhibits strong global cycling of matter, resulting in a thermodynamic state that is far from equilibrium. This cycling of matter produces entropy and contributes to local entropy decreases on Earth. Examples of such heterogeneities in the Earth system include the formation of cloud droplets in the atmosphere, the infiltration and movement of water in soils, and the pattern formation of vegetation.
Life on Earth can also be understood as a process that decreases local entropy. Living things convert energy into other forms, producing entropy and degrading the quality of energy. At the same time, they counteract the universal tendency towards disorder by arranging atoms and molecules into complex assemblies to duplicate living cells. This decrease in disorder within living organisms is made possible by a form of instruction or intelligence contained in their DNA/RNA.
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Entropy decrease in isolated systems
The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isolated system can never decrease over time. Instead, it remains constant if the system is in equilibrium or increases if any processes creating disorder are occurring. This is because isolated systems always evolve towards thermodynamic equilibrium, a state with maximum entropy. Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system, and the more disordered a system is, the higher its entropy.
However, it is possible for the entropy of one part of an isolated system to decrease, as long as the total change in entropy of the system increases. For example, when heat is extracted from water during refrigeration, the temperature and entropy of the water decrease as the system moves away from uniformity with its warm surroundings. Similarly, when energy from the sun is stored on Earth in the form of chemical potential energy, Earth experiences local decreases in entropy as it uses part of the energy transfer to do work. However, there is a large total increase in entropy resulting from this massive energy transfer.
In biological systems, the origin, birth, and development of life involve a process of increasing order and information, which corresponds to a decrease in entropy with internal interactions. Self-organisation in biological systems is a process of entropy decrease, at least for a certain period.
In physics, possible entropy decreases include phase transformation from disorder uniformity to an ordered state, and solidification, which spontaneously forms an ordered structure.
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Entropy and the unavailability of energy
The second law of thermodynamics is a physical law based on universal empirical observation concerning heat and energy interconversions. It establishes the concept of entropy as a physical property of a thermodynamic system. Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system and how much energy is unavailable to do work. The more disordered a system is and the higher the entropy, the less of the system's energy is available to do work.
The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a system either increases or remains constant in any spontaneous process; it never decreases. This means that the state of entropy of the entire universe as an isolated system will always increase over time. The changes in the entropy of the universe can never be negative. This is often referred to as the "arrow of time", encompassing every area of science. For example, when an ice cube is left at room temperature, it begins to melt. This is because heat transfers energy spontaneously from higher to lower-temperature objects, but never spontaneously in the reverse direction.
However, it is possible for the entropy of one part of the universe to decrease, as long as the total change in entropy of the universe increases. Energy transfer is necessary for this to occur. For example, if you pick up marbles scattered about a room and put them into a cup, your work has decreased the entropy of that system. Similarly, when an updraft of warm air lifts a soaring bird, Earth experiences local decreases in entropy as it uses part of the energy transfer from the sun into deep space to do work. There is a large total increase in entropy resulting from this massive energy transfer.
The association of entropy with disorder is a matter of confusion and is still questioned. Thermodynamics textbooks associate disorder with entropy, stating that it is a property of matter that measures the degree of randomization or disorder. When molecular chaos is produced, the ability to do useful work reduces. However, the fact that it cannot be measured directly adds to the confusion.
In summary, entropy is related to the unavailability of energy to do work. As entropy increases, a certain amount of energy becomes permanently unavailable to do work. This energy is not lost, but its character is changed, so it can no longer be converted to doing work. This concept is of particular interest in thermodynamics, as the field arose from efforts to convert heat to work.
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Entropy and the disorder of systems
The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a system either increases or remains constant in any spontaneous process; it never decreases. This law is based on universal empirical observation concerning heat and energy interconversions. Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system. It also describes how much energy is not available to do work. The more disordered a system is and the higher the entropy, the less of a system's energy is available to do work.
The second law of thermodynamics establishes the concept of entropy as a physical property of a thermodynamic system. It predicts whether processes are forbidden despite obeying the requirement of conservation of energy as expressed in the first law of thermodynamics and provides necessary criteria for spontaneous processes. For example, the second law of thermodynamics explains why an ice cube at room temperature begins to melt and why we get older and never younger.
Entropy is often associated with the amount of order or disorder in a thermodynamic system. In Landau theory, the development of order in the everyday sense coincides with the change in the value of a mathematical quantity, a so-called order parameter. An example of an order parameter for crystallization is "bond orientational order", which describes the development of preferred directions (the crystallographic axes) in space.
In systems ecology, the entropy of a collection of items comprising a system is defined as a measure of their disorder or the relative likelihood of the instantaneous configuration of the items. The value of the entropy of a distribution of atoms and molecules in a thermodynamic system is a measure of the disorder in the arrangements of its particles. In a stretched-out piece of rubber, for example, the arrangement of the molecules of its structure has an "ordered" distribution and has zero entropy, while the "disordered" kinky distribution of the atoms and molecules in the rubber in the non-stretched state has positive entropy.
There are situations where the entropy spontaneously decreases by means of energy and entropy transfer. When thermodynamic constraints are not present, energy, mass, and accompanying entropy may be transferred out of a system to reach external equilibrium or uniformity with its surroundings. This occurs spontaneously because the transfer of energy or mass from the system to its surroundings results in a higher entropy in the surroundings and a higher overall entropy of the system and its surroundings.
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Frequently asked questions
The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a system will increase or remain constant, but never decrease.
Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system. It also describes how much energy is not available to do work.
While the total entropy of a system never decreases, it is possible for the entropy of one part of the system to decrease. For example, energy from the sun decreases the entropy of local systems on Earth.
The second law of thermodynamics states that heat always flows spontaneously from hotter to colder regions of matter. This is because the entropy of the hot object decreases by a smaller amount than the entropy of the cold object increases, resulting in an overall increase in entropy.
The second law of thermodynamics implies that the availability of energy to do work is constantly decreasing. Eventually, this will lead to the "heat death of the universe", where all activity will cease.
