can anyone answer this?

Question

How is that life on earth as we know it evolved from soup when

second law of thermodynamics says that "The entropy of an isolated system not at equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value."

Answer 1

Simple. Please note the words "isolated system."

The earth is not an "isolated system." (Notice the sun.)

Answer 2

First of all-we are talking about the "primordial soup", which just means the chemicals that were present in the oceans in the early days of the earth's formation. It is not actually soup, and the make up of this "soup" would be very different than what you would find in what we call soup traditionally.

While I do not know the exact chemical reactions that would have taken place to create the original prokaryotic cells, it most likely happened because the chemical reactions involved were exothermic, or heat releasing. If this was the case, entropy would still have increased because heat is a disorganized form of energy. We would have to know the exact chemical reactions to know for sure.

Answer 3

I don't think you can consider the primordial soup an isolated system first and foremost. It was exposed to the environmental pressures of concentration differentials, varying pressure and temperatures. LeChatlier's principle also states that a system under stress will change to reduce the effects of that stress. It is possible that the move from "random" molecules into more organized molecules were to alleviate the effects of high pressure, concentration and temperatures. The theory does suggest that the Earth during the time of the primordial soup had an atmosphere of extreme pressure and that the earth was still basically a ball of molten rock... so high temperatures.

Answer 4

secret sauce is right - when a system receives energy or mass, it is not an isolated system and this (receiving mass energy or information) is the only way to keep the system from entropy increase - which means death and destruction in the case of living system. like if somebody locked you up in closed system, guess what would happen to you - you die. the Earth is fed by the energy of Sun - not only it heats us up, but this energy is caught by means of photosynthesis and transferred further. No wonder some peoples thought the Sun to be God himself... The one who gives everything

Answer 5

I understand the soup to be randomly-linked molecules of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen...we understand that with energy, molecules bounce off each other and sometimes bond, creating new molecules (and sometimes break, creating other molecules or atoms)...anyway, these molecules of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen...(and others) eventually formed the amino acids and nucleotides...and then fatty acids were formed...then you were able to create proteins and fatty acids...these fatty acids formed cell membranes while the proteins functioned on the membranes and inside the space enclosed by the cell membrane...over time, nucleotides became the code to form proteins...and then cells evolved from this mix...(or 'soup,' if you prefer to use that word)