Does life violate the second law of thermodynamics?
1 Answer
May 30, 2017
Locally it seems to, but overall, no.
Explanation:
Life, which is a very organized system, would seem to violate the second law of thermodynamics. In fact, when you look at it locally, it certainly seems obvious. However, the problem is that the second law applies to closed systems. This means we need to expand our view of what we use to measure the total Entropy. We will then find that the organisms, as they interact with their environment and so on, create an overall increase in the Entropy which does not violate the second law.
