Register | Sign In


Understanding through Discussion


EvC Forum active members: 63 (9162 total)
2 online now:
Newest Member: popoi
Post Volume: Total: 916,386 Year: 3,643/9,624 Month: 514/974 Week: 127/276 Day: 1/23 Hour: 1/0


Thread  Details

Email This Thread
Newer Topic | Older Topic
  
Author Topic:   Arguments 'evolutionists' should NOT use
Zhimbo
Member (Idle past 6032 days)
Posts: 571
From: New Hampshire, USA
Joined: 07-28-2001


Message 9 of 74 (399928)
05-08-2007 10:04 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by Sour
05-08-2007 9:01 PM


quote:
Somewhat right?
A good question...I almost wrote a reply. I guess I will now.
The way I see that it is "somewhat wrong":
1. It doesn't refute the idea that the 2nd Law is about "disorder". The 2nd law isn't about disorder, it's about entropy (which in SOME cases can be intuitively understood as disorder, but NOT all).
2. It states that the 2nd law 'only works for a closed system', which is untrue (by the proper formulation of the law). It works for all systems; however, there are limits on total entropy change of a closed system not present in an open system (at least in the short term).
I'd be interested in Taz's response as to the better way to address the "2nd law" argument.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 8 by Sour, posted 05-08-2007 9:01 PM Sour has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 10 by fallacycop, posted 05-08-2007 11:33 PM Zhimbo has replied
 Message 12 by Taz, posted 05-09-2007 12:42 AM Zhimbo has not replied

  
Zhimbo
Member (Idle past 6032 days)
Posts: 571
From: New Hampshire, USA
Joined: 07-28-2001


Message 17 of 74 (400007)
05-09-2007 4:23 PM
Reply to: Message 10 by fallacycop
05-08-2007 11:33 PM


I agree with your second point just fine, and it's compatible with what I said. I was just indicating why the stated formulation was only "somewhat" right.
I completely disagree about "mak[ing] a case for defining disorder as identical with entropy."
The English word "disorder" is seldom-to-never used in a way that means "the measure of a system's thermal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work." (Encyclopedia Britannica def. of entropy).
For a really good discussion of why you shouldn't use the term "disorder" in discussing the 2nd law:
http://www.secondlaw.com/six.html

This message is a reply to:
 Message 10 by fallacycop, posted 05-08-2007 11:33 PM fallacycop has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 36 by fallacycop, posted 05-10-2007 10:33 PM Zhimbo has replied

  
Zhimbo
Member (Idle past 6032 days)
Posts: 571
From: New Hampshire, USA
Joined: 07-28-2001


Message 40 of 74 (400250)
05-11-2007 4:31 PM
Reply to: Message 36 by fallacycop
05-10-2007 10:33 PM


The definition I gave is indeed the correct definition from classical thermodynamics, and it does indeed have the correct units (joules/Kelvin).
Other definitions are useful for different sorts of problems, but all of them have one thing in common: none of them equate entropy with disorder.
As soon as you "pretend" the 2nd law deals with "disorder" you open up an enormous load of misconceptions and unproductive intuitions.
For example: "The Big Bang can't be true, because the Universe is more ordered now than a big explosion".
Here's an additional article on the pitfalls of "pretending" that entropy = disorder.
http://www.entropysite.com/cracked_crutch.html

This message is a reply to:
 Message 36 by fallacycop, posted 05-10-2007 10:33 PM fallacycop has not replied

  
Newer Topic | Older Topic
Jump to:


Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved

™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024