The Order Among the Chaos
Thermodynamics is the subject of energy and the transformations through which it progresses. The principles of thermodynamics govern everything which happens in the known Universe. Though originally applied solely to energy, thermodynamic principles can also be applied to philosophy and general everyday life, as much of what happens in the world follows the same general rules as energy does when it moves and transforms. The three main laws of thermodynamics, described is layman's language, are as follows:
- You can't get something from nothing. Energy is neither created nor destroyed; The Universe contains a fixed amount of energy, either in the form of energy or as matter (which can be converted to and from energy according to E=mc2). Where the energy and matter originally came from, or its ultimate fate, is a matter of philosophical discussion beyond the scope of this page.
- Your house will always get messier and messier, at least without the application of an appropriate amount of work. (Entropy is always headed toward a maximum in the Universe as a whole. The amount of energy in the Universe may be static but it is constantly headed toward a state of degraded quality - less able to perform work.)
- You can't stop the world in its tracks. (It is not possible to reach absolute zero - the point where all particulate, atomic, and molecular motion stops and there would be truly zero heat.)
Exceptions to the Rules
There are no exceptions to the rules. If there was a known exception to the rules, human beings would likely have spread themselves all around the universe by now. Utility bills would be a thing of the past, and the dreams of infinite material wealth for everyone would be a reality. The laws of thermodynamics are the reasons why science fiction is, well, fiction. It's why we don't have colonies on Mars or flying cars. It's why we don't all live forever, look like supermodels and have perfect skin, perfect teeth, and perfect bodies. It's why we still burn filthy black rocks and ancient plankton slime to power our society.
Ultimate Reality
It may sound like a quite pessimistic subject, but the fact is that Thermodynamics is reality. The human mind excels at coming up with things which don't adhere to the rules, and there is nothing wrong with such creativity. It is just that we have never had any success with trying to break the rules! The only "exceptions" I have found to the rules lie within the realm of spirituality, and this may not even be a violation as spirits and supernatural beings may derive energy from the environment. People experiencing paranormal phenomena often speak of cold feelings as well as disturbances in electromagnetic fields. Given a difference in temperature, a spirit may derive work. Even if something so radical as a spirit bridging a dimensional gap, the movement of heat from our dimension into another would allow for the production of work. Work is the essential ether of life and the Universe, caused by the movement of particulate, atomic, and molecular vibrations from a concentrated high level to a diffuse low level (a.k.a. the movement of heat from hot to cold).
Exergy: The Organizer
Despite the depressing aspects of thermodynamics (finitity, entropy, death, etc.), it is also important to realize that another aspect of the subject - the concept of work, or exergy - is the foundation of the order which we find in our world today. Exergy is the essence of life, order, and comfort. Exergy is simply a term for energy which has been ordered - directed in such a way as to perform a constructive task.
Exergy is produced when heat moves from a zone of high concentration to a zone of low concentration. In mechanical engineering, a heated fluid usually acts upon some movable object, a piston or turbine blade, as it expands and cools. The work (exergy) is then extracted as the force imposed on this object. Exergy in nature is found as wind, where uneven heating of the atmosphere results in the movement of air. It is found in our rivers as the heat from the sun vaporizes water, which rises into the atmosphere and condenses, falling back to earth and expressing exergy as it moves under the influence of gravity back to sea level. Geothermal heat moving from the hot interior of the planet to the cool exterior drives the plate tectonic and volcanic processes which have been continuously recycling and replenishing the Earth's surface since its formation. Life derives the exergy for powering itself from the dilute heat of the sun or from hydrothermal vents on the sea floor. In the process, large quantities of unusable energy, or entropy, are released. But, the highly concentrated sugars, fats, and proteins which result allow for the high-level processes of life, many of which are not naturally thermodynamically feasible, to progress quite easily.
Entropy: Everything Runs Downhill
As time progresses, the entropy of the universe increases. Eventually temperature gradients disappear, work ceases to be produced, and everything stops. This fundamental fact may seem to be a pessimistic deduction by mankind and his tools (science), but the fact is that we have never been able to observe an instance where entropy decreased with the passage of time without the influence of an outside source of work. Because this is how everything in our environment behaves, and attempts to disprove it have always failed, it is considered to be an immutable theory. As far as theories go, the laws of thermodynamics are especially strong. Exceptions do not really happen.
Even with the finitity which entropy guarantees, we are able to "ride" the entropy change of the universe to create our own world of order. In the case of Earth, we ride the entropy of the Sun, as the sun is the provider of the vast majority of the energy we use. Energy radiates from the sun into the cold of space. Some of this passes through Earth in the process where work is extracted and utilized before being radiated back into space at a much lower level of quality.
Searching for Order
The quest of modern environmentalism is to reduce the unnecessary entropy created by human beings. To make things like food, clothing, computers, cars, and houses takes energy and resources. Sustaining civilization means producing these items using energy and materials which are harvested and produced from sustainable sources. All fossil fuels may be completely exhausted in 200 years, but the sun will last for another five billion, and without the pollution! Metal ore deposits are not unlimited, but the number of times you can recycle a metal within the confines of the economy is unlimited. We must continue to search for order in our world of entropy, for the sake of all life on this planet.
Last Modified: August 15, 2009. 20:22:17 pm