Creationists agree that there is more than sufficient energy available
for living processes to occur. Those ardent anti-creationists who write the anti-creation literature up a straw man and have played a clever word game by carelessly focusing on 'crystals', 'closed systems', 'open systems', the earth, the sun, etc. to refute an argument never made by creationists and to lead people think that creation scientists are not capable scientists. From reading posts written on these type forums, it appears that their misinformation campaign has been very successful.
I don't care how much the sun shines on it, I would not invest money or time in any patent that violates the second law, nor would I want an electrical system installed in my home which violates the 2nd law.
Yes, even in an open system, the 2LOT can be violated, bit I'm sure you know that already.
In its differential form, the second law states that the quantity of entropy generated locally cannot be negative irrespective of wether the system is isolated or not, and irrespective of wether the process under consideration is irreversible or not. Harvard Scientist Dr. John Ross wrote in a letter published in the 'Chemistry and Engineering News' (July 27, 1980). Stated:
"There are no known violations to the second law of thermodynamics. Ordinarily the second law is stated for isolated systems, but the second law applies equally well to open systems. ... there is somehow associated with the field of far-from equilibrium phenomena the notion that the second law of thermodynamics fails for such systems. It is important that this error does not perpetuate itself."
If something moves, entropy increases! All real processes increase
entropy. All real processes are therefore irreversible.
Physicists have known since the early twentieth century that the reason why the 2nd Law is true is 'probability'. The 2LOT is true solely due to the fact that the natural flow of molecules is toward an equilibrium of disorder. The flow is from low probability states to higher probability states. The difference in the probabilities of the lower and higher probability states is the reason for irreversibility in the real world. All other ways of stating the 2LOT are simply special cases of this truth.
Physicist Richard P. Feynman explained entropy as the flow from order to disorder, from states of lower probability to states of higher probability. He gives the example of filming two gases, a gas of white particles and a gas of black particles, in a container separated by a boundary. He calls this state highly ordered as all the black particles in the container are all on one side and all the white particles are on the other side. When the boundary is removed, the particles will mix together, order decreases and disorder increases. This is considered an irreversible process. But Feynman has an objection, if you play the film backwards, the particles separate and all the white particles go to one side of the container and the black particles go to the other side of the container, and not only that, but careful observation shows that no physical laws are broken, all the particles are moving at just the right speed and are forming just the right collisions at just the right angle for this to happen. Thus the process is reversible and, Feynman adds, so are all the fundamental laws of physics. So what is it that makes the natural mixing of the two gases irreversible? Feynman's answer is `probability'. The number of states (particle distribution) of disorder far outnumber the number of states of order, so much so that it becomes unrealistic to expect reversibility. The gases are moving from states of very low probability to states of very high probability. From order to disorder.
That ardent atheist and anti-creationist evolutionist Isaac Asimov, once described the 2nd Law this way:
"Another way of stating the second law then is: 'The universe is constantly getting more disorderly.' Viewed that way we can see the second law all about us. We have to work hard to straighten out a room, but left to itself, it becomes a mess again, very quickly and very easily. Even if we never enter it, it becomes dusty and musty. How difficult it is to maintain houses, and machinery, and our own bodies in perfect working order; how easy to let them deteriorate. In fact, all we have to do is nothing, and everything deteriorates, collapses, breaks down, wears out - all by itself - and that is what the second law is all about."
The problem evolutionists have is that they know the second law is a fact and they KNOW evolution is a fact, therefore the two must be compatible. This forces them to believe that order and specified complexity arises out of chaos, that nonsense generates sense, that information has arisen spontaneously within systems.
To satisfy the second law, more is required than simply having an open system and a flow-through of energy. The flow through of energy is a necessary condition for reversing entropy in a system, but not a sufficient one. Sunshine may flow into Asimov's room, and the heat may be turned on at night, but neither will reverse the increasing entropy in that room. In fact, the sun's energy speeds up the increase of entropy of the paint on the exterior of my home and inside Asimov's room.
What is needed is an engine, a converting mechanism, some sort of coupling mechanism that will convert the negative entropy associated with energy flow into negative entropy associated with configurational entropy and the corresponding information. This is the problem the second law presents to evolution. Until such an engine is found, evolution is in violation of the second law.
The 2nd law is a central question for those who hold to spontaneous generation:
Nobel Laureate, Biologists Christian De Duve, in his 1995 book `Vital Dust', states that any and all scenarios for spontaneous generation must be certain that each step of the process flows from lower probability to higher probability so as not to violate the 2nd law.
According to the eminent information theoretician & evolutionist Yockey:
"An uninvited guest (Schroedinger, 1955; du Nouy,1947; Prigogine, and Nicolis 1971; Gatlin, 1972; Prigogine, Nicolis & Babyloyantz, 1972; Volkenstein, 1973) at any discussion of the origin of life and evolution from the materialistic reductionist point of view, is the role of thermodynamic entropy and the 'heat death' of the universe which it predicts. The universe should in every way go from states which are less probable to those which are more probable. Therefore, hot bodies cool; energy is conserved but becomes less available to do work. According to this uninvited guest, the spontaneous generation of life is highly improbable ( Prigogine, Nicolis, and Babyloyantz, 1972). The uninvited guest will not go away nor will the biological evidence to the contrary notwithstanding."
Evolutionist and anti-creationist John Patterson wrote an article in an evolutionists publication attacking creation scientists meant for public consumption. His article was supposed to debunk the Creationists claims that evolution violates the 2nd law. After writing much nonsense similar to what has been posted in this forum, Patterson inadvertantly put forward the Creationists true 2nd law argument when he wrote:
"It is one thing for an internally organized, open system to foster uphill processes by tapping downhill processes, but how did the required internal organization come about in the first place? Indeed the so-called dissipative structures that produce uphill processes are highly organized (low entropy) molecular ensembles, especially when compared to the dispersed arrays from which they assembled. Hence, the question of how they could originate by natural processes remains a challenging one."
This is the problem creationists have with the 2nd law. And as you can see, the problem concerns evolutionists as well.
I think Asimov's example is most appropriate. Rooms are made to perform a function, and a large collection of dust is not the function most people have in mind. For most people, that room will have to be swept clean, the blankets or table cloths washed, the furniture dusted and/or repaired, the walls painted. Thus work must be done for the room to be restored to its' original function. An engine must be provided to perform that work (in our case human beings) and the engine will expend energy in doing the work and must itself consume energy to also function.
For life processes, disorder is a loss of function, very broadly speaking. The loss of function may be due to loss of order, or of specified complexity, or of information, or energy.
I'm getting older, my body does not function as well as it use to do. When I play ball, my mind knows instinctively what to do, but my body no longer responds like it use to do. I'm a lot slower now. My body is undergoing decay, even as I live.
I believe the universe was the work of a Creator, and that it is temporal. He made it very good, but it was not perfect, though it fits in His perfect will. The universe has been decaying ever since it's creation was completed. I believe life was created and that it too has undergone decay since creation as mutations have created defects that are inheritable and are accumulative with other mutational defects. If we are not killed by some event or disease, then our natural death will be caused by mutations.
The ultimate disorder is separation from G-d. Did you know that Holy Scripture teaches that Jesus came so that we may have eternal life. That He prepares a place for us to be received into eternal fellowship with an abundance of life, peace and joy. But most interesting is that which undergoes corruption can not pass on to the place G-d has prepared for us where all is incorruptible and we are promised that nothing there will undergo decay. G-d dwells there and there will be no sun, stars, or other heat source, but G-ds radiance will be there to sustain all things. There will be no entropy. Thus the ultimate order is being in G-d's presence.
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