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The Beginning of Science. The Science of Beginning.
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The Beginning of Science. The Science of Beginning.
Check the AzOSA events page for scheduled lectures, field studies, and seminars. Then sign up for our newsletter
March 3, 2016
I am an engineer that has worked in the area of thermodynamics and thermodynamic modeling for nearly 30 years. I am not saying that I am an expert in the field, but that I do have a great deal of experience in working with thermodynamics and have lectured on this subject frequently. In this short discussion I hope to make some of the concepts of the 2nd Law a bit less vague and clear up some confusion on a few matters.
The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is one of the more esoteric and least quantifiable of the known laws of the universe, and thus there is a great deal of confusion in even coming up with a precise definition of it.
Since it deals with energy, and since pretty much every physical process known to man deals with some type of energy transfer, the 2nd Law has tremendous implications across a variety of disciplines outside of strict thermodynamic constraints. Even my college thermodynamics textbook admits that it has philosophical implications[1] and raises fundamental questions on how the universe got into a state of low entropy. The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is indeed an enigma for all who hold a naturalistic evolutionary view of the universe.
Engineering definitions usually center on the degradation of useful energy but in reality the most precise definitions of the 2nd Law deal with its probabilistic nature and the entropy property is defined in terms of probability. Specifically, “The net increase in entropy that occurs during an irreversible process can be associated with a change of state from a less probable state to a more probable state.”[2] This is where the concept of “disorder” comes in, because without direction, everything tends to disorder, because randomness is the most probable state (randomness = disorder, non-randomness = order). From a thermodynamics perspective, disorder is often associated with usefulness from an energy perspective, but again, the law applies probabilistically to all processes in which energy is involved.
To see how closely the idea of disorder is in relation to the 2nd Law, and to highlight the fact that order and disorder are commonly understood to be measured in terms of entropy, one only needs to look at the general definitions given by the current science encyclopedia and science dictionary definitions of entropy:
[1] Van Wylen, Gordon J., and Sonntag Richard E. Fundamentals of Classical Thermodynamics, Second Edition. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 1973. Pg 248
[2] Ibid
[3] Oxford Dictionary of Science, 2005
[4] Oxford Dictionary of Chemistry, 2004
[5] Barnes & Noble’s Essential Dictionary of Science, 2004
[6] Gribbin's Encyclopedia of Particle Physics, 2000
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Therefore it is not a stretch to say “everything is getting more disordered over time” when the “everything” refers to any system or process of which we are familiar.
Obviously one may look at a single entity of a system and say it has increasing order, but without looking at the whole of the process involved, this is very difficult to do. For example, if you look at crystal formation, you may point to the crystal as an ordered entity, but the crystal was not formed without a process around it in which heat was released and thus entropy increased for the process. And the crystal was not formed without some type of direction.[1]
Another common misconception is that the 2nd Law only pertains to closed systems, as if open systems somehow magically become ordered. One of the key concepts that is often overlooked in the application of the 2nd Law is that energy must be directed in such a way that a local increase in order can occur (and thus have a local decrease in entropy). The input of undirected energy into an open system only enhances the disorder of a system. One only needs to look at the impact of a hurricane to see this – undirected energy leads to disorder. This is also why significant efforts are made to protect things from energy input that one wishes to preserve, for example great effort is made to protect The Declaration of Independence from energy input to keep it from decaying more rapidly.
Often the best way to discuss the impacts of the 2nd Law is to look at examples and to see what the implications are for these examples.
One may argue that a messy room is not an example of the 2nd Law, but actually it is an easy example and one that shows the impact of an open system to the 2nd Law. If the room was a closed system, i.e. nobody ever entered it, it would eventually become dusty and the materials in the room would eventually decay, but this would take years. Now, make it an open system where people enter it and do things in it without directing any energy to clean it. Materials in the room would wear much quicker and anything thrown about the room would land in a random fashion – not folded neatly or placed on a hanger – both of which require directed energy. The energy exchange that took place in the room, if not directed, would lead to its messiness, or in other words unless specific energy is directed at maintaining orderliness, any force exerted in the room will lead to its disorderliness. This is directly in line with the 2nd Law.
Machines wearing out are also a simple example and one that is used in literature[2]. Stress and strain on materials and their inability to return to their original condition (no elasticity is 100% due to energy losses) leads to many of the reasons for mechanical failure. Heat impacts on materials and degradation due to chemical or radiation exposure are additional examples. The probability of materials to deform or chip due to contact is another way of stating that their chemical bonds are more probable to separate when subjected to input energy (this is why a glass breaks when you drop it); again directly in line with the 2nd Law.
Perhaps the most ordered thing with which we are familiar is life, yet life requires significant energy to exist and that energy must be ordered or that same energy will destroy the life. Radiation and oxidation will destroy cells and organic molecules, and the body is constantly fighting environmental impacts that
[1] In this case the energy direction comes from the atomic bonds of material that direct the energy into specific formations. It should also be noted that these formations are still random in the sense that no two are the same – a property of snowflakes of which we are all familiar.
[2] “The phenomenon of wear and tear is a good demonstration of the second law of thermodynamics in action” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_and_tear
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come against it. Every cellular and chemical process in the body fights the 2nd Law and the body is putting up this fight from the moment of conception. Cells and systems degrade and must be constantly renewed by the input of energy which is directed by the cells and systems to facilitate life. But at some point the ability of these systems to continue to convert that energy fails, the chemical processes breakdown and life ceases. Biological death is absolutely a consequence of the inability of the body to combat the chemical breakdown of cellular processes. On an outward level, the growth and development of an organism may seem to imply a local decrease of entropy, but on a molecular level and system level, entropy is always increasing.
Then one can look at the earth and possibly make the statement that we really cannot see the impacts on a large scale here because of the constant input of energy from the sun, but again this would not be a true statement. The input of energy from the sun does make life possible (as previously discussed), but it also is contributing to the increase in the disorderliness (randomness) of the planet. In addition, processes on the earth also aid in this degradation. Some examples that could be expanded would include extinction, erosion[1], resource depletion, sedimentation and increased salinity of the oceans[2]. All of these things show processes that are moving from a less probable state to a more probable state and increasing the randomness/disorderliness of the planet.
This brings us to the subject of evolution. With an accurate definition and understanding of the 2nd Law, one does not have to think about this subject for long to see that it has direct implications for evolution. As one author put it "Clausius and Darwin cannot both be right."[3]
But before discussing the implications on biological evolution, it must be applied to astronomical evolution. How did the supposed Big Bang produce a universe in a state of low entropy? Or in other words, how did what was essentially a big random explosion produce the non-randomness (order) we see in the universe without any type of energy direction? Literature is devoid of sensible explanations. Instead we see quotes like this:
“Because of the second law of thermodynamics both energy and matter in the Universe are becoming less useful as time goes on. Perfect order in the Universe occurred the instant after the Big Bang when energy and matter and all of the forces of the Universe were unified.”[4]
This is obviously not a rational explanation, but search and you will find few better.
But the problems the 2nd Law poses for evolution are not limited to astronomical issues, as they are equally a problem for biological evolution. Look at what is necessary for biological evolution to have occurred.
[1] http://creation.com/eroding-ages#f10
[2] http://creation.com/salty-seas-evidence-for-a-young-earth
[3] R. Caillois, Coherences Aventureuses. Paris: Gallimard, 1976
[4] http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/6e.html
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Every one of the above processes involves an energy exchange and every one stipulates that without direction of this energy a non-random result will take place. This is exactly what the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics precludes because it does not allow for the “spontaneous increase in the organization of molecules, or energy”[1]. Therefore if the very processes that are necessary for biological evolution to occur are precluded by the 2nd Law, then indeed biological evolution is precluded by the 2nd Law.
In addition, what we do find in biology follows the 2nd Law and actually shows the opposite of evolution. We see this in the paring of existing information leading to organisms with significantly less information than their ancestors, and thus the inability to adapt via natural selection, which often leads to extinction. Recent landmark studies have also shown that the random mutations that occur in the genome are actually leading to its decay and eventual destruction[2].
The impacts of the 2nd Law are pervasive and are to be expected since this is exactly what God told us would happen in His Word. In Psalm 102:25-26 we read:
In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.[3] Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded (NIV).
The root cause of this decay is given to us clearly in Romans 8:19-22
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time (NIV).
We clearly see that this corruption of the whole universe (“the whole creation”) had a beginning (“was subjected to”) and that beginning was the curse due to sin where this death process started[4].
[1] http://www.wiley.com/college/boyer/0470003790/reviews/thermo/thermo_intro.htm
[2] Sanford, J.C., Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome, 3rd edn, FMS Publications, New York, 2008
[3] This concept had to be revealed supernaturally to the author since there was no knowledge of the 2nd Law at the time of this writing.
[4] Gen2:17 – literally translated “dying you shall die” – reveals it was a process that started the moment Adam sinned.
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The 2nd Law is so encompassing and covers so many phenomena that surely not all aspects of it began at the curse, but it is my belief that anything that is related to decay and irreversibility had to begin with the curse, since a single irreversible process would have made the pre-sin world non-eternal and then God would have lied to Adam, but this is a separate subject that has its own arguments.
The bottom line is that sin brought decay into the universe and many aspects of the 2nd Law are how we see that decay in a physical sense. Certainly there are corollaries to political, sociological and economic decay. Those are not scientific processes covered by the 2nd Law, but they still certainly follow the same concept in that, if left alone, and without the continual input of God’s directed influence, these processes would decay into eventual chaos; all of which is surely predicted in Scripture. This is the corruption due to sin that invades everything.
The importance of this subject cannot be overstated and it certainly should, and needs to be, included in any treatise dealing with the subject of origins. It not only serves as another refutation of evolutionary thought but it also helps explain the world around us in light of the impacts of sin. I pray this discussion has shed some new light on this topic and has provided a better understanding of such an important concept.
Norm Crawford, B.S. Aerospace Engineering, University of Southern California, M.S. Aerospace Engineering/Orbital Mechanics, University of Southern California.
