>Pop level
>accounts generally try to explain thermo without the math. This
>is often done by introducing certain metaphors. Entropy can be
>thought of as "disorder" and blah blah blah. This is a useful
>metaphor for entropy but like all metaphors it can only be
>taken so far. Problems arise when the metaphysicians and
>Creationists start playing their word games with the word
>disorder. Suddenly entropy begins to take on moral attributes :).
>People forget that disorder is just a useful metaphor. Entropy
>is the name for a parameter in a mathematical expression.
>It gains its "meaning" (often counter-intuitive) from the
>mathematics and not from the metaphors used to try to explain
>the concept to the layman.
Ilya Prigogine's book "Order out of chaos" is a useful book for a layperson
who wants to find out something of how chemists think about thermodynamics.
It explodes some of the myths lay people carry around.
This tendency to substitute rhetoric for proper definitions is to some
exent unavoidable for those not in the mainstream of research on a
particular topic. But when the laypeople criticize scientists involved in
the mainstream of research for not accepting their watered down definitions
and the reasoning based on them, it would be laughable if it weren't my
Christian brothers who were being made fools of.
Bill Hamilton | Chassis & Vehicle Systems
GM R&D Center | Warren, MI 48090-9055
810 986 1474 (voice) | 810 986 3003 (FAX)
hamilton@gmr.com (office) | whamilto@mich.com (home)