scholarly journals The Second Law and Entropy Misconceptions Demystified

Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 648
Author(s):  
Milivoje M. Kostic
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Mass Energy ◽  
Energy Potential ◽  
Ordered Structures ◽  
Thermodynamic Entropy ◽  
Thermal Disorder ◽  
Non Equilibrium

The challenges and claims of hypothetical violations of the Second Law of thermodynamics have been a topic of many scientific, philosophical and social publications, even in the most prestigious scientific journals. Fascination with challenging the Second Law has further accelerated throughout the development of statistical and quantum physics, and information theory. It is phenomenologically reasoned here that non-equilibrium, useful work-energy potential is always dissipated to heat, and thus thermodynamic entropy (a measure of thermal disorder, not any other disorder) is generated always and everywhere, at any scale without exception, including life processes, open systems, micro-fluctuations, gravity or entanglement. Furthermore, entropy cannot be destroyed by any means at any scale (entropy is conserved in ideal, reversible processes and irreversibly generated in real processes), and thus, entropy cannot overall decrease, but only overall increase. Creation of ordered structures or live species always dissipate useful energy and generate entropy, without exception, and thus without Second Law violation. Entropy destruction would imply spontaneous increase in non-equilibrium, with mass-energy flux displacement against cause-and-effect, natural forces, as well as negate the reversible existence of the very equilibrium. In fact, all resolved challengers’ paradoxes and misleading violations of the Second Law to date have been resolved in favor of the Second Law and never against. We are still to witness a single, still open Second Law violation, to be confirmed.

Supradegeneracy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-132
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Statistical Mechanics ◽  
Population Inversion ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Boltzmann Factor ◽  
Energy Currents ◽  
Non Equilibrium

AbstractCanonical statistical mechanics hinges on two quantities, i. e., state degeneracy and the Boltzmann factor, the latter of which usually dominates thermodynamic behaviors. A recently identified phenomenon (supradegeneracy) reverses this order of dominance and predicts effects for equilibrium that are normally associated with non-equilibrium, including population inversion and steady-state particle and energy currents. This study examines two thermodynamic paradoxes that arise from supradegeneracy and proposes laboratory experiments by which they might be resolved.

scholarly journals Second Law and Non-Equilibrium Entropy of Schottky Systems --Doubts and Verification--

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Muschik
Keyword(s):  
Open Systems ◽  
Embedding Theorem ◽  
Contact Temperature ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Molar Entropy ◽  
Primitive Concept ◽  
Historical Remark ◽  
Clausius Inequality ◽  
Non Equilibrium

Meixner's historical remark in 1969 "... it can be shown that the concept of entropy in the absence of equilibrium is in fact not only questionable but that it cannot even be defined...." is investigated from today's insight. Several statements --such as the three laws of phenomenological thermodynamics, the embedding theorem and the adiabatical uniqueness-- are used to get rid of non-equilibrium entropy as a primitive concept. In this framework, Clausius inequality of open systems can be derived by use of the defining inequalities which establish the non-equilibrium quantities contact temperature and non-equilibrium molar entropy which allow to describe the interaction between the Schottky system and its controlling equilibrium environment.

scholarly journals Entropy Balance in the Expanding Universe: A Novel Perspective

Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 406
Author(s):  
Arturo Tozzi ◽  
James F. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Quantum Systems ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Quantum Vacuum ◽  
Expanding Universe ◽  
Cosmic Expansion ◽  
Thermodynamic Entropy ◽  
Local Observer ◽  
Relational Mechanism

We describe cosmic expansion as correlated with the standpoints of local observers’ co-moving horizons. In keeping with relational quantum mechanics, which claims that quantum systems are only meaningful in the context of measurements, we suggest that information gets ergodically “diluted” in our isotropic and homogeneous expanding Universe, so that an observer detects just a limited amount of the total cosmic bits. The reduced bit perception is due the decreased density of information inside the expanding cosmic volume in which the observer resides. Further, we show that the second law of thermodynamics can be correlated with cosmic expansion through a relational mechanism, because the decrease in information detected by a local observer in an expanding Universe is concomitant with an increase in perceived cosmic thermodynamic entropy, via the Bekenstein bound and the Laudauer principle. Reversing the classical scheme from thermodynamic entropy to information, we suggest that the cosmological constant of the quantum vacuum, which is believed to provoke the current cosmic expansion, could be one of the sources of the perceived increases in thermodynamic entropy. We conclude that entropies, including the entangled entropy of the recently developed framework of quantum computational spacetime, might not describe independent properties, but rather relations among systems and observers.

scholarly journals Entropy meters and the entropy of non-extensive systems

2014 ◽  
Vol 470 (2167) ◽  
pp. 20140192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliott H. Lieb ◽  
Jakob Yngvason
Keyword(s):  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Surface Effects ◽  
Equilibrium States ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Intrinsic Properties ◽  
Mesoscopic Systems ◽  
Entropy Functions ◽  
Non Equilibrium

In our derivation of the second law of thermodynamics from the relation of adiabatic accessibility of equilibrium states, we stressed the importance of being able to scale a system's size without changing its intrinsic properties. This leaves open the question of defining the entropy of macroscopic, but unscalable systems, such as gravitating bodies or systems where surface effects are important. We show here how the problem can be overcome, in principle, with the aid of an ‘entropy meter’. An entropy meter can also be used to determine entropy functions for non-equilibrium states and mesoscopic systems.

The trouble with entropy

1998 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. de HAAN ◽  
C. D. GEORGE
Keyword(s):  
Symmetry Breaking ◽  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
The State ◽  
Large System ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Dynamical Description ◽  
Non Equilibrium

An understanding of the mechanisms leading to the symmetry breaking of the dynamical description of a large system with respect to the direction of time is necessary, but not sufficient to ensure the finding of a functional of the state of the system that would satisfy the requirements placed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics upon the non-equilibrium entropy S.

scholarly journals From Thermodynamic Entropy to Knowledge Entropy

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 589-596
Author(s):  
Constantin Bratianu
Keyword(s):  
Information Theory ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
The Body ◽  
Natural Phenomenon ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Computational Formula ◽  
Absolute Entropy ◽  
Concept Of Information

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to present the evolution of the concept of entropy from engineering to knowledge management, going through information theory, linguistic entropy, and economic entropy. The concept of entropy was introduced by Rudolf Clausius in thermodynamics in 1865 as a measure of heat transfer between two solid bodies which have different temperatures. As a natural phenomenon, heat flows from the body with a higher temperature toward the body with a lower temperature. However, Rudolf Clausius defined only the change in entropy of the system and not its absolute entropy. Ludwig Boltzmann defined later the absolute entropy by studying the gas molecules behavior in a thermal field. The computational formula defined by Boltzmann relates the microstates of a thermal system with its macrostates. The more uniform the probability distribution of the microstates is the higher the entropy is. The second law of thermodynamics says that in open systems, when there is no intervention from outside, the entropy of the system increases continuously. The concept of entropy proved to be very powerful, fact for which many researchers tried to extend its semantic area and the application domain. In 1948, Claude E. Shannon introduced the concept of information entropy, having the same computational formula as that defined by Boltzmann, but with a different interpretation. This concept solved many engineering communications problems and is used extensively in information theory. Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen used the concept of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics in economics and business. Today, many researchers in economics use the concept of entropy for analyzing different phenomena. The present paper explores the possibility of using the concept of knowledge entropy in knowledge management.

Cosmology in scalar–tensor–vector theory via thermodynamics

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (24) ◽  
pp. 1850137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Onur Siginc ◽  
Mustafa Salti ◽  
Hilmi Yanar ◽  
Oktay Aydogdu
Keyword(s):  
Apparent Horizon ◽  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Entropy Function ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Generalized Second Law ◽  
Vector Theory ◽  
Theory Of Gravity ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Non Equilibrium

Assuming the universe as a thermodynamical system, the second law of thermodynamics can be extended to another form including the sum of matter and horizon entropies, which is called the generalized second law of thermodynamics. The generalized form of the second law (GSL) is universal which means it holds both in non-equilibrium and equilibrium pictures of thermodynamics. Considering the universe is bounded by a dynamical apparent horizon, we investigate the nature of entropy function for the validity of GSL in the scalar–tensor–vector (STEVE) theory of gravity.

scholarly journals A Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics-Based View of the Kinetics of Autocatalytic Reactions – a Simple Illustrative Example

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miloslav Pekař
Keyword(s):  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Rate Equations ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Equilibrium Thermodynamics ◽  
Autocatalytic Reactions ◽  
Chemical Potentials ◽  
Entropic Inequality ◽  
Reaction Stoichiometry ◽  
Kinetics Of ◽  
Non Equilibrium

Autocatalytic reactions are in a certain contrast with the linear algebra of reaction stoichiometry, on whose basis rate equations respecting the permanence of atoms are constructed. These mathematical models of chemical reactions are termed conservative.Using a non-equilibrium thermodynamics-based theory of chemical kinetics, this paper demonstrates how to properly introduce an autocatalytic step into a (conservative) rate equation. Further, rate equations based on chemical potentials or affinities are derived, and conditions for the consistency of rate equations with entropic inequality (the second law of thermodynamics) are illustrated.<br><div><br></div>

Thermodynamics, Quantum Physics, and Black Holes

2020 ◽  
pp. 24-39
Author(s):  
John W. Moffat
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Information Loss ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Major Question ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Information Loss Problem

A major question confronting physicists studying black holes was whether thermodynamics applied to them—that is, whether the black holes radiated heat and lost energy. Bekenstein considered heat and thermodynamics important for the interior of black holes. Based on the second law of thermodynamics, Hawking proposed that black holes evaporate over a very long time through what we now call Hawking radiation. This concept contradicts the notion that nothing can escape a black hole event horizon. Quantum physics enters into Hawking’s calculations, and he discovered the conundrum that the radiation would violate quantum mechanics, leading to what is called the information loss problem. These ideas are still controversial, and many physicists have attempted to resolve them, including Russian theorists Zel’dovich and Starobinsky. Alternative quantum physics interpretations of black holes have been proposed that address the thermodynamics problems, including so-called gravastars.

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