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Thoughts on
the Rubi’s Scientific American article:
Does Nature Break the Second Law of Thermodynamics?
By J.
Miguel Rubí
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=how-nature-breaks-the-second-law&print=true
The First Law of Thermodynamics
formally stating that the energy in the universe is constant is not a
revelation. The concept that energy
doesn’t mysteriously appear and that energy is never lost in nature is generally
accepted as true and does not require much proof. Hence, if energy is never lost, then why
can’t bodies in motion indefinitely remain in motion? In the 1800’s, no matter how hard inventors
tried, a perpetual motion machine could never be built. Friction that resulted in heat slowly “stole”
energy away, thereby creating a nagging problem that made scientist somehow try
to technologically devise a system to recapture this lost energy and try to return
it back to the machine so that it could remain in apparent perpetual
motion. Such an accomplishment has never
been achieved. The concept of a zero
loss energy system resulted in the branch of science called thermodynamics
which is a statistical view of mechanics.
Though few would disagree that the lost energy could theoretically be
recaptured, its dissipation created a new energy cost in its reclamation making
such an endeavor not worthwhile to pursue.
The linking of the scattering of energy and the internal energy of a
system resulted in the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Miguel Rubi, in his
article, The Long Arm of the Second Law, restates the law in that: the universe
is becoming more and more disorganized, energy is inherently wasted no matter
how efficient the machine and there’s nothing that we can do about it!
Based on observation from the Hubble
telescope and observations of the back flash from the “Big Bang” a recent
article in Discover Magazine reported the final conclusion that the universe will
dissipate to what Rubi referred to as “an eternal
stasis of heat death”. This “dark” force
of chaos, called entropy, will be powerful enough to even evaporate black
holes. The thesis of Rubi’s
article is to bring to light that all is nearly as gloomy as it may seem. Furthermore, Rubi
points out that there are many instances where disorganization paradoxically
creates order and “… belie(s) the idea that nature
tends to become steadily more disorganized.”
The misconception is pointed out that the Second Law of Thermodynamics
is not so dynamic at all. How ironic its
name, the original Second Law of Thermodynamics only applies to states that are
in equilibrium where there is no dynamic change. What’s so dynamic about that?
Though scientists ponder the
reversibility of small sequential states of equilibrium, point in fact what
appears to be a succession of equilibrium states can be reversible whereby the
net change is in fact irreversible. Rubi uses a melting ice cube in water to prove this
point. Incrementally, any step could be
reversed, but spontaneous ice cubes just don’t form and the only way that you
will be able to get one to reform is by putting the water back into the
freezer. Rubi
gives many examples where states of dynamic equilibriums exist
that give rise to order and organization.
A toaster and thermocouple, forward and reverse osmosis are surprisingly
two pairs of reciprocal operations that are indeed reversible in the face of
dynamic equilibrium states. Standard
thermodynamics are compelled to explain away these phenomena as “nonequilibrium thermodynamics”.
Rubi
explains that nonequilibrium thermodynamics does not
break any of the thermodynamic laws. He
proposes that a mixed drink that was stirred with a swizzle stick contains
pockets that are in various local equilibriums in the midst of dynamic change
that is occurring in an ocean of temperature gradients and concentration
gradients as the mixed drink is being stirred.
The only time that this system breaks down is when there would a
dramatic change such as a chemical reaction or when the system is so small that
behavior varies greatly over small distances.
Rubi points out that the classical
thermodynamic variable set is not rich enough to explain these phenomena. He also points out that even systems of
excessively small size still shouldn’t fail.
He argues that just because a few coin tosses
results in a series of heads, tossing the coins long enough will still result
in the expected average.
Rubi
concludes that thermodynamics apply equally to the steam engine of the 1800’s as
well as the biology running life’s machinery at the molecular level, since
after all, both are still motors and both still result in moving things. Properly applied, thermodynamics provides
computational shortcuts and insights to the understanding of these intricate
systems. Though we will ultimately lose
the war against steadily increasing chaos, thermodynamics will continue to
foster existence of the increasingly complex.