THERMODYNAMICS

The second law of thermodynamics is a law of physics. It has governed

every chemical, physical or biological interaction ever studied. Basically,

the law states that everything tends to run down. Clocks run down; wind-up

toys run down; rocks fall down cliffs but never fall up. In fact, the

universe is running down. Physicists tell us that the end of the universe

will be cold and black with no light, motion or heat.

The second law of thermodynamics could well be stated as follows: "In any

ordered system, open or closed, there exists a tendency for that system, to

decay to a state of disorder, which tendency can only be suspended or reversed

by an external source of ordering energy directed by an informational program

and transformed through an ingestion-storage-converter mechanism into the

specific work required to build up the complex structure of that system."

Another way of explaining this second law is to say that everything tends

ultimately to fall apart. Houses deteriorate, Toys break. Certain chemicals

spontaneously decompose. Even the diamond in a beautiful ring slowl changes

back to black, messy carbon; for a diamond is nothing more than a special form

of carbon.

Well, if the tendency of all chemicals is to fall apart rather than get

more complex, the theory of the chemical evolution of life is in serious

trouble and the two statements cited above would be wrong. The second law is

a law of simplification, and its work has been observed in every laboratory in

the world.