Beads of Doubt: Second Law of Thermodynamics Untrue? -

BBC - UK ^ | December 18, 2003 | Dr David Whitehouse

[Nick Danger]

So for very short periods of time, time can run backwards. Wouldn't that make any period containing some of those instants seem longer?

Now that I think about it, I have been in closed conference rooms where this happened. The guy kept droning on and on, and I kept having the sensation that I'd heard it all before. Whoa! Maybe I had! This explains why a meeting that only took an hour seemed like days.

[firerosemom]

So, if I trade in my house for a really small one, then it would clean itself up! Hurray!

(maybe I could just keep on holding my breath for that .001% right here)

:)

[Muleteam1]

>>Life continues to receive energy ultimately from the Sun. It does not evolve in a CLOSED system.<<

So does everything else on earth but life is supposedly the only thing that can utiltize that energy to go from simple to complex. Shake a cigar box full of Swiss watch parts for a million years and see what you get; a box of parts.

Muleteam1

[Doctor Stochastic]

The newspaper article hasn't described a closed system. What they are describing has both external vibration and laser excitation being applied. Shake and bake.

Perhaps the real experiment isn't as the article describes.

[WackyKat]

It's an old, old, discredited argument and you can rest assured anything you've read claiming it was written by a grade-A, first class idiot.

Kent Hovind?

Of the many, many stupid creationidiot arguments, it's quite possibly the dumbest.

There is no "dumbest" Creationist argument.

They just keep getting dumber amd dumber as they approach infinity

[narby]

Life continues to receive energy ultimately from the Sun. It does not evolve in a CLOSED system -- a closed system being the whole point of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.

And the Sun recieves it's energy from where?

It looks to me like the solar system is about as closed as you can get. Or the Galaxy, or Universe, or however big you care to look - at some point it's closed.

I've always been a skeptic of this "law". Like the example on Newton's laws. The second might be able to stand up for most tests, but I can't imagine that it has any real meaning when looking at the entire universe.

I'm not a scientist, obviously. But I do claim to be a generic skeptic (I don't believe in creationism, that you can't travel faster than light, global warming, or the Democratic party).

[Muleteam1]

>>.Here's a hint--evolution does NOT violate the Second Law, as the total entropy of the overall system DOES increase.<<

I know of no proof that the "overall system" is undergoing entropy. And here's another hint, a theory is not proved by another theory.

Muleteam1

[MHGinTN]

Uh, that 'box of parts' will turn to fundamental particles before the millionth year of shaking ...

[MHGinTN]

Only Schroedinger's Cat could read it then

[FreedomCalls]

And the Sun recieves it's energy from where? It looks to me like the solar system is about as closed as you can get. Or the Galaxy, or Universe, or however big you care to look - at some point it's closed.

Well the Sun is the best example of entropy going. It has a limited supply of fuel to burn in its fusion reaction and it will eventually turn into a cold lump of matter -- life on Earth be damned no matter how advanced in evolution it is.

[Ken H]

They'll take away my Second Law of Thermodynamics from my, cold dead fingers!

"A well regulated Motion, being necessary to the stability of a free Universe, the right of the particles to keep and increase disorder, shall not be infringed."

[Old Professer]

Sh*t; it's still two months to Groundhog Day.

[Old Professer]

I quit drinknig, too!

[Old Professer]

So has Hugh Hefner and that cadre of makeup artists that he deploys.

[willyboyishere]

HEY, don't look at me----I always said the 2nd law was a big fake.

[FreedomCalls]

Or the Galaxy, or Universe, or however big you care to look - at some point it's closed.

It sure is a heck of a lot cooler in my neighborhood since the big bang -- and getting colder.

[FairOpinion]

"The ANU work is published in Physical Review Letters. "

==

One would have to read the actual paper.

Physical Review Letters is not known to publish hoaxes.

[Old Professer]

Human beings are the entropy of the universe.

[Old Professer]

Broadly, all cowboys live for "Closing Time."

[Old Professer]

What about the law of Fermodynamics?