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Why are things falling apart? - it's the law!

Time line of the Universe/NASA

Nature is full of laws. For some of us who have a problem with nature's rules, we tend to blame God or Allah or Yahweh or Bhagwan or whomever we may call our Almighty. If you're a scientists who is a victim of one of these laws, you know it's really nature's fault.

 

Mad at gravity after falling off your bike? Don't blame Newton!

 

Angry that your kids are growing up too fast? Don't blame Einstein!

 

Upset with the idea that your ancient ancestor was an ape? Don't blame Darwin!

 

It's all nature's fault!

 

And this brings me to my topic. Things are falling apart because one of nature's many pesky rules. Specifically, nature's second law of thermodynamics.

 

According to Wikipedia, the second law of thermodynamics is an expression of the universal principle of increased entropy. What's entropy? Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a physical system; the number of rearrangements of a system's fundamental constituents that leave its gross, overall appearance unchanged.

 

So, in everyday terms; since entropy is a measure of disorder and since the second law of thermodynamics represents the universal principle that entropy increases, then things generally are getting more messy by the day. And there is nothing that either you or I can do about it. Rooms get messy, people grow old and die, batteries loose energy, teeth decay, food rots, suns burn out, galaxies cool. The law is the law!

 

Now, wait a minute you say, my kids room may be messy on Tuesday but after I clean it on Wednesday, his room is more orderly. In fact, don't I violate the second law of thermodynamics every week since the entropy of Billy's room does not increase? In fact, doesn't the room's apparent entropy decrease from Tuesday to Wednesday".  

 

Nice try but no cigar! Nature's law wins again. While the apparent entropy of Billy's room may decrease, the work and energy that you put into cleaning Billy's room actually increases the total entropy (overall disorder) within our Universe. His room may appear to be more orderly today than it was yesterday, but the measure of the overall disorder of the physical system within our world has increased due to the energy and effort (think heat escaping and dissipating into the atmosphere) expended while cleaning Billy's room.

What the second law of thermodynamics entails is that in the formation of an orderly room, there is generally a more-than-compensating production of disorder. Entropy's balance still leans towards chaos, even though certain constituents (in this case Billy's room) appear to have become more ordered.

 

I hate the second law law of thermodynamics. It says that the Universe, as we know it, will eventually become infinitely disordered. In trillions of years ,it will all be over. Galaxies, suns, planets, and even atoms will just decay and fade away.

 

The good news? Our Universe is a young and robust 13.7 billion or so years old. We've got a long way to go before nature's second law of thermodynamics renders life impossible. 

 

I think the second law of thermodynamics is the reason why physicists are intrigued with the idea of Parallel and Multiple Universes  and wormholes as a means of escape into another, more friendly, Universe. When this Universe gets too disorderly to support life, let's look for a new one. A more friendly Universe without stupid rules like the second law of thermodynamics.