I'd like to weigh in on the evolution question.?

Question

One of the basic laws of science is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, which says that everything is breaking down, going from a state of order to disorder. Every field of science recognizes this law except one, biology. Biology says that single cell organisms joined together to form more and more complicated organisms, breaking the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. Biology is the only branch of science that doesn't recognize this law. HOW COME?

Answer 1

Wrong section, bud. Try asking the question in the Biology section.

Answer 2

You have a very poor grasp of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. It states that entropy in a closed system will increase. The Earth is not a closed system. We receive a tremendous input of power from the sun, as well as a daily rain of dust from space. Without any outside inputs, life on Earth would rapidly cease. Single celled organisms evolving in response to changing conditions is no different than chlorine compounds changing in response to exposure to ultraviolet light.

Answer 3

Things tend towards entropy unless you put energy into the system. The Sun is a great source of energy to the Earth, which is not a closed system under thermodynamic conditions. It's an open system. Biology doesn't violate the second law of thermodynamics.

Answer 4

You're misunderstanding the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
Entropy never decreases in a closed system, but a biological being is NOT a closed system. Even the entire ecosystem is NOT a closed system. Energy from the sun is input into the system regularly. We can consider the sun and the earth together to be a good approximation of a closed system, and we can observe that the total entropy in this system is increasing.

Answer 5

Ok, i have this question down. The second law of thermodynamics says that the entropy (measure of disorder) of the universe is increasing with each energy transfer. There is a second part to this law though. It says that, while order may increase locally (in specific organisims... etc) overall in the universe, the entropy is increasing.

And why is this question in the RandS section?

Answer 6

Why do you assume there is a connection with evolution? Maybe we just don't understand how biology follows the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

Answer 7

I will be very interested to see what you choose as best answer. Eri and others have provided you with very clear answers as to why biology does not concern itself with the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Earth is an open system receivinb massive energy inputs from the sun.

So will you choose one of these answers or will you choose the answer that best fits your pre-conceived belief?

Answer 8

The laws of thermodynamics describe the behavior of random particles acted upon by physical forces. They have absolutely nothing to do with cellular reproduction and genetic change over time.
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Answer 9

Claim CF001:
The second law of thermodynamics says that everything tends toward disorder, making evolutionary development impossible.

Response:
The second law of thermodynamics says no such thing. It says that heat will not spontaneously flow from a colder body to a warmer one or, equivalently, that total entropy (a measure of useful energy) in a closed system will not decrease. This does not prevent increasing order because

the earth is not a closed system; sunlight (with low entropy) shines on it and heat (with higher entropy) radiates off. This flow of energy, and the change in entropy that accompanies it, can and will power local decreases in entropy on earth.
entropy is not the same as disorder. Sometimes the two correspond, but sometimes order increases as entropy increases. (Aranda-Espinoza et al. 1999; Kestenbaum 1998) Entropy can even be used to produce order, such as in the sorting of molecules by size (Han and Craighead 2000).
even in a closed system, pockets of lower entropy can form if they are offset by increased entropy elsewhere in the system.
In short, order from disorder happens on earth all the time.

The only processes necessary for evolution to occur are reproduction, heritable variation, and selection. All of these are seen to happen all the time, so, obviously, no physical laws are preventing them. In fact, connections between evolution and entropy have been studied in depth, and never to the detriment of evolution (Demetrius 2000).

Several scientists have proposed that evolution and the origin of life is driven by entropy (McShea 1998). Some see the information content of organisms subject to diversification according to the second law (Brooks and Wiley 1988), so organisms diversify to fill empty niches much as a gas expands to fill an empty container. Others propose that highly ordered complex systems emerge and evolve to dissipate energy (and increase overall entropy) more efficiently (Schneider and Kay 1994).

Creationists themselves admit that increasing order is possible. They introduce fictional exceptions to the law to account for it.

Creationists themselves make claims that directly contradict their claims about the second law of thermodynamics, such as hydrological sorting of fossils during the Flood.

Answer 10

Maybe it's because thermodynamics studies inorganic (inanimate, dead, nonliving) compounds, and biology deals with life. Life has its own laws.