Re: Back to CP

dave evans (T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU)
Fri, 21 Jun 96 17:25 EDT

> From: "Garth W. Webb" <webbgw@CIG.MOT.COM>
>
>
> The 2nd law of thermo was created by people trying to understand
> things
> like steam engines, back a long time ago, and has a tendency to be
> missused.
> What is dissorder and what is not is highly subjective. Using the
> 2nd law one
> could say that a chicken could never produce an egg since it would be
> increasing order (chicken feed -> egg).

Well, it will agree with the 2nd "law" better by adding some
important data:

Food + chicken + oxygen => CO2 + much more dung and other waste
than eggs + eggs.

Sure there are living things which will be able to use the chicken
waste products for some food (energy) but in the end it will take
a plant using "new" energy from the sun to build the waste back
into some that feeds a chicken once again. All the orginal
energy has disappiated.

Energy from the sun is can still be considered part of a closed
system as it doesn't seem we to get that much energy from outside
the solar system. For the great part, the engery from sun just
flows out into space or leaves as light. A small amount may get
stuck on Earth for a bit (traveling through many living things
along the way) but will eventually just radiate back into space
as heat.

Dave Evans