| Author | Message | ||
     86129squids |
Entropy is a scientific concept, as well as a measurable physical property that is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynamics, where it was first recognized, to the microscopic description of nature in statistical physics, and to the principles of information theory. It has found far-ranging applications in chemistry and physics, in biological systems and their relation to life, in cosmology, economics, sociology, weather science, climate change, and information systems including the transmission of information in telecommunication. The thermodynamic quantity itself was used in 1850 by Rankine. He used the names 'the thermodynamic function' and 'heat-potential'.[1] The term 'entropy' was introduced in 1865 by German physicist Rudolph Clausius, one of the leading founders of the field of thermodynamics, who had used the quantity in 1854.[2] Clausius formulated it as the quotient of an infinitesimal amount of heat to the instantaneous temperature. In German, he initially described it as Verwandlungsinhalt, in translation as a transformation-content, and later coined the term entropy from a Greek word for transformation. Referring to microscopic constitution and structure, in 1862 Clausius interpreted the concept as meaning "disgregation". [3] Entropy predicts that certain processes are irreversible or impossible, aside from the requirement of not violating the conservation of energy, the latter being expressed in the first law of thermodynamics. Entropy is central to the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy of isolated systems left to spontaneous evolution cannot decrease with time, as they always arrive at a state of thermodynamic equilibrium, where the entropy is highest. Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann explained entropy as the measure of the number of possible microscopic arrangements or states of individual atoms and molecules of a system that comply with the macroscopic condition of the system. He thereby introduced the concept of statistical disorder and probability distributions into a new field of thermodynamics, called statistical mechanics, and found the link between the microscopic interactions, which fluctuate about an average configuration, to the macroscopically observable behavior, in form of a simple logarithmic law, with a proportionality constant, the Boltzmann constant, that has become one of the defining universal constants for the modern International System of Units (SI). In 1948, Bell Labs scientist Claude Shannon developed similar statistical concepts of measuring microscopic uncertainty and multiplicity to the problem of random losses of information in telecommunication signals. Upon John von Neumann's suggestion, Shannon named this entity of missing information in analogous manner to its use in statistical mechanics as entropy, and gave birth to the field of information theory. This description has since been identified as the universal definition of the concept of entropy. | ||
| Aesquire |
Or in simpler terms... The basic laws of the Universe are... You can't win. You can't break even. You can't get out of the game. ( 3rd law...unattainability of absolute zero ) | ||
| Rick_a |
My ex told me that my life represented a level of chaos that she found disturbing and unsettling. ...And I thought you were gone.  In all seriousness, though...get help. | ||
| Sami |
Entropy, like all the other so-called laws of nature, are not universal. They don't hold true for all things, at all times and at all places.  An airplane model levitating in mid air. This is evidence that the "law" of gravity can be suspended, pardon the pun. Laws of nature are "semi-universal" at best, sometimes they hold up, other times they don't. Gravity can be countered by electricity, as the example shows. | ||
| Rick_a |
That's not true. It's using one constant to counteract another. No laws broken. As far as I know the only constants that aren't exist in the quantum realm...and that's likely because we're not at a point of understanding everything that exists in that realm. | ||
| Hootowl |
Yep. Gravity isn’t destroyed by magnetism any more than aerodynamic lift does for the real version of that model. | ||
| Sami |
Constant in what sense? If it can be countered, then it is not a constant. It is "semi-contant" at best. Gravity is not a constant. For example, it changes depending on your location on Earth, whether your are closer or farther away from the equator. | ||
| Sami |
Jeff, I didn't say gravity was destroyed. The point was that gravity is not a constant. If gravity is a constant, then what is the speed of gravity? | ||
| Crusty |
That's not a valid question. It's like saying electricity isn't real because it has no weight. | ||
| Aesquire |
Gravity isn't a constant. It's a force. It varies with distance, as does magnetism, & other forces. The model on the magnetic stand "feels" gravity just like you do in your chair, or me a mile up with my glider. I assure you, Gravity is a harsh mistress. It's absolutely true we don't understand the exact mechanism. We haven't detected, or been able to create Gravitons, the hypothetical "transfer particles" of gravity force. There are no gravity generators for sale on E-Bay. We've got theories of varying elegance that are popular, but just saying "curvature of space" and a mathematical formula derived from observation doesn't tell us how to curve space except by piling stuff up like nature does. Yep, the Pentagon or the Temple of Athena bend gravity in their vicinity. Feel free to make density jokes. | ||
| H0gwash |
Chaos generally opposes theory. Chaos theory is sort of a contradiction in terms, but our lives are usually contradictions in terms. Chaos is why motorcycles rust, why socks disappear from the laundry, why you were sent the wrong part from parts house. And yet we were born from chaos, evolution is chaos. It is a wonderful riddle. | ||
| Aesquire |
As to it being "universal"? gravity exists everywhere we can see, but our view is limited to the motions of stuff far away. Plus we look up out of a varying deep gravity well, spinning around another, spinning around another, ( planetary, solar, galactic ) and that skews our perception. Also there's the Hubris and illusion that stuff is the same everywhere as here, a logical fallacy in human affairs and probably interdimensional. At least in the eleven dimensions.... | ||
| Sami |
Crusty, it is a valid question. Scientists have asked that question for centuries and some believe that the speed of gravity equals C. The problem with equating the speed of gravity to C is that it is not a given that C itself is a constant. Electricity has a speed by which it travels through a medium. The same holds true for gravity. Neither gravity nor electricity travel at infinite speed, since an actual infinity is nonsensical. H0gwash, chaos cannot create order. There is order in the universe, chaos cannot explain it. What is a "force"? The Pentagon is a black hole sucking in money: 9/10/2001: Rumsfeld says $2.3 TRILLION Missing from Pentagon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU4GdHLUHwU | ||
| H0gwash |
The construct of order versus non-order is a people thing. Chaos just is, you probably call it God. You can call it whatever you want. | ||
| Ourdee |
Gravity is not a force. Gravity is an illusion. | ||
| Crusty |
There is no gravity. The Earth sucks. Or somethin'... | ||
| Aesquire |
One Idea I really like for it's simplicity, is that matter doesn't create Gravity. It blocks gravity, which is a REPULSIVE force coming from all directions, the "reflection" of the Big Bang. I leave it to you to determine an experiment that can tell the difference. So, Either the Earth Sucks, or the Universe Blows. | ||
| Ourdee |
Or we are just in a matrix...... I believe that if we ever learn the truth of the matter, we will laugh at how ignorant we are. | ||
| Tootal |
I believe the Bible says that when we die we will know what God knows. I'm looking forward to finding out who shot JR? | ||
| Sami |
The truth of the matter is that scientists don't know what gravity is. They have no clue whatsoever. There is not enough matter in the universe, scientists say. So they go on inventing Dark Matter for which they have found no evidence. Dark Matter should be called Shy Matter, it doesn't want to be seen. Scientists are the wrong people to ask the question, "what is gravity"? Questions relating to the nature of things require metaphysical principles to be answered. Gravity is not a force, it is an effect. There are no "forces of nature", instead there are causes and effects. Are we in the Matrix? No, because God is not a liar. The Matrix is an adoption of Gnostic heresies where God is portrayed as evil, it is not something to base one's world view upon. | ||
| Hootowl |
"They have no clue whatsoever." True. 'Course, they can't explain what creates the other forces either. Strong and weak nuclear bond, etc. They just know they're there. We can measure them, but we can't explain them. Well, you say, mass creates gravity. How?  | ||
| Etennuly |
Back in my high school days, in science class I did a paper about gravity. I was serious about it. I was curious about it. That paper was for a semester grade. I wrote a summary of a lot of research I did about how gravity works and what it actually is, where it comes from and so forth. My paper had all of the requisite form and style to get a good grade. Title page, preamble, the body and then references. I got a 'D'. Came with a note. The teacher thought my intent was to be a smart ass. The body of my paper simply was one sentence. "No one knows" This was in 1975. I had six references. Our school library did not have the depth. Of course science had no actual useable answer, but I was serious about it. Stupid teacher would not even let me argue my point. | ||
| Ratbuell |
1975, and you were living a Calvin and Hobbes strip....you always were ahead of the times, Vern!  | ||
| Ourdee |
I believe the Bible says that when we die we will know what God knows. I'm looking forward to finding out who shot JR? I Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. The 13th chapter is full of information. I always understood it as telling me that I don't have an inkling of how ignorant I am. | ||
| Sami |
"The construct of order versus non-order is a people thing. Chaos just is, you probably call it God. You can call it whatever you want." God isn't chaos or a construct. You can't call God whatever you want. Words have meaning. | ||
| Sami |
"Gravity is not a force." True. "Gravity is an illusion." I wouldn't say it's an illusion, it's more of an effect. The same way a shadow is an effect of light hitting an object, gravity is an effect of matter "hitting" space. | ||
| H0gwash |
You can also extrapolate what I originally wrote however you want. | ||
| Glitch |
Is it entropy if I collapse in on myself rather than falling apart? | ||
| Hootowl |
Nah. That’s gravity.  | ||
| Sami |
Gerard, I rather not extrapolate. |
