entropy

Wendee Holtcamp (wendee1@gte.net)
Mon, 20 Apr 1998 11:41:14 -0500

I have probably missed some of this discussion because of teh subject line
- I'd been deleting them. But I am very interested in hearing the specific
reasons why the "entropy" argument used by YECs is or is not valid. I have
studied evolution and know that it just doesn't "make sense" but I'd like
someone who has looked into this a bit more to clarify things. By the way I
am a Christian but not a YEC. I have a YEC friend who likes to explain that
things can't evolve to a more complex state because of entropy, but it
still doesn't make sense to me. Even if the argument held water, to me it
provides more evidence FOR God's hand in evolution as he can do the
impossible!

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.
>
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>| 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
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