Thanks for any insight.
Wendee
>>
>>An I disagree, Entropy has to do with EVERYTHING. If you have matter
>>and energy involved in some process you have ENTROPY.
>
>As a resident thermodynamicist here, let me intervene quickly. You are
>_both_ sort of right.
>
>Eduardo is right in that entropy and the 2nd Law are universal concepts
>which are not invalidated in living systems. Glenn is right in that the
>common ways people talk about them (for example, the idea that entropy
>always increases in a system) are not generally valid in these systems
>that are not isolated and also not at (and often not near) equilibrium.
>Entropy and the 2nd law can still be useful concepts for these systems,
>but (as Prigogine did) you have to do some things differently than in the
>equilibrium thermodynamics most of us are used to.
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>| Dr. Allan H. Harvey | aharvey@boulder.nist.gov |
>| Physical and Chemical Properties Division | "Don't blame the |
>| National Institute of Standards & Technology | government for what I |
>| 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303 | say, or vice versa." |
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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Wendee Holtcamp -- GREENDESIGN Communications
Environment/Nature/Adventure-Travel Writing
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