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Bo Chen
isolated system. Low Entropy Energy – which is energy in a highly ordered and compact form –
is more useful to us than Energy in a high entropy, and thus low order form. Some examples of
this are gasoline, prepared food, and sunlight. All three have low entropy. When these things are
“used” or “consumed” their entropy increases and they are transformed into a higher entropy and
thus more useless form of energy. Hardy (2009) stated that in the Second Law of
Thermodynamics Entropy in any given system tends to increase over time until it reaches an
equilibrium level. If you place a drop of red dye into a glass of water the redness will slowly
disperse itself until the red dye has been equally diluted throughout the entire glass of water. If
you keep the door open between two adjoining rooms of different temperatures the cooler room
will become warmer and the warmer room will cool down until they both reach the same final
temperature.
No Free Lunch
Greene (2003) reported that all perpetual motion machines violate the law of
thermodynamics because efficiency is always lost and entropy always increases in any given
process. In essence, there is no free or perpetual energy. Even though the law of conservation
of mass and energy states that total energy in any isolated system will remain the same, our
global consumption of resources always irreversibly transforms the useful low entropy energy
Penrose (2009) remarked that the energy supplied by the sun would be totally useless if it
was not for the fact that our sun is a hot spot in an otherwise cold background. Indeed, for the
sun’s energy to be useful to us at all it firsts must be in a low entropy form, and secondly it must
exists in a thermal disequilibrium. By the process of photosynthesis the sun’s low entropy
energy is absorbed by plants to decrease their own entropy. Herbivores consume plant materials
to lower their own systems of entropy. Carnivores eat the herbivores and so on and so forth. As
human beings we are on the top of the food chain and are least efficient and most wasteful. Our
actions have the largest negative multiplier effect that degrades the entire ecosystem.
Paradox Resolved
If the 2nd law states that entropy always increases (become less ordered) in every process
then what accounts for higher ordered nature of the human body, a clean room, or the structure
of civilization? Boson (1964) elucidates that from an energy standpoint, the second law of
thermodynamics prefers the formation of the virtually all known complex and ordered chemical
compounds directly from their simpler constituent elements. Therefore, contrary to mass
opinion, the second law does not require the decrease of ordered structure by its predictions, but
only demands a "spreading out" of energy when such ordered compounds are formed
spontaneously. In simpler layman terms, low entropy locally is derived at the expense of
increased entropy globally. I can clean a room because of the low entropy of food that I have
previously consumed, and society can build highways, airports and skyscrapers because it burns
Running head: Entropy and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics and its Environmental Impact
4
petroleum and other low entropy sources of power and thereby increase total entropy in an
Enviromental Conclusions
As human beings we are on the very top of the “food chain” pyramid and therefore it is
of the world’s energy and resources. Our enjoyment of life (rapid reduction of local entropy)
comes directly at the expense of polluting the environment (exponential increase of total global
entropy). Wealthy Americans have the ability to more massively reduce their own local entropy
levels directly at the expense of increasing total global entropy that much faster for the rest of us.
Seen in this new light, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet first making their billions and then helping
out the less fortunate is quite ironic from a standpoint of energy and thermodynamics. Jevons
(2009) proposed that technological advancements that increases the efficiency with which a
resource is used, tends to increase (instead of decrease) the rate of consumption of that particular
resource. Efficiency alone is not enough; we must also practice reduction of consumption.
Sometimes the best footprint to leave is none at all, this may sound poetic or idealistic but it is a
References
Boson, Higgs. (1964). The Second law of thermodynamics and evolution. Retrieved from
http://2ndlaw.oxy.edu/evolution.html
Greene, B. (2003). The elegant universe: Superstrings, hidden dimensions, and the quest for the
ultimate theory. "City: New York City." W.W. Norton & Co..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics
Jevons, W.S (2009). The coal question. "City: New York City." General Books LLC.
Mingus, C. (2005, April 15). Two opposing types of order. Retrieved from
http://www.everythingforever.com/st_order3.htm
Penrose, R. (2007). The road to reality: A complete guide to the laws of the universe. "City: New