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entropy1
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Is there an easy way to explain in layman terms why entropy in an open system is not reversible?
See e.g. the explanation by Penroseentropy1 said:Is there an easy way to explain in layman terms why entropy in an open system is not reversible?
vanhees71 said:I don't understand the question. What do you mean by "entropy is not reversible"?
Usually something is irreversible for practical reasons. You have a macroscopic system, and it's simply not possible to know all the details of its state and apply a "time-reversal transformation" to this state in all microscopic details, which would be necessary to reverse the process leading to it.
I think the HUP says we could not know all information with full detail since at the quantum level much of it is indeterminate.entropy1 said:I remember Brian Greene on Discovery Channel or National Geographic Channel illustrating this with a wine glass breaking on the floor. Halfway the video, it paused, and he walked about the scene reversing all momenta of all particles in the scene (animated). I don't remember whether the message was that we couldn't know all information (momenta), or we could. Would is be in principle possible to time reverse all processes in an open system given a limited amount of time between t0 an t1 (limited size of the light cone)?
WHAT article? There have been several articles referenced in this thread. You need to let people know what you are talking about.memento said:The article is false because the formula of additive entropies is wrong
entropy1 said:I remember Brian Greene on Discovery Channel or National Geographic Channel illustrating this with a wine glass breaking on the floor. Halfway the video, it paused, and he walked about the scene reversing all momenta of all particles in the scene (animated). I don't remember whether the message was that we couldn't know all information (momenta), or we could. Would is be in principle possible to time reverse all processes in an open system given a limited amount of time between t0 an t1 (limited size of the light cone)?
entropy1 said:Is there an easy way to explain in layman terms why entropy in an open system is not reversible?
DirkMan said:I thought that closed systems have "irreversible" (never-decreasing) entropy , not open systems.
vergil.chemistry.gatech.edu/notes/quantrev/node20.html said:An important second half of the third postulate is that, after measurement of ##\psi## yields some eigenvalue ##a_i## the wavefunction immediately ``collapses'' into the corresponding eigenstate ##\psi_i## . Thus, measurement affects the state of the system.
Jilang said:So, the challenge is to explain in layman's terms why the entropy of a closed system (statistical fluctuations aside) increases?
anorlunda said:This thread is in the Quantum Mechanics forum, but most of the replies deal with the macro world.
anorlunda said:I thought that the OP was seeking a QM explanation of the 2nd law.
anorlunda said:"Does the 3rd postulate of QM lead to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics?"
Jilang said:I suspect quantum mechanically it has more to do with the path integral formulation of QM. The more ways of getting to a final micro state the more chance there is for that happening. And the more permutations of the final micro states that lead the final macro state likewise for the macro state.
secur said:So it seems the real issue you wind up with is: "are all open systems reversible - in principle?"
The true answer is, no they're not. For instance a broken egg left to rot for a week is not reversible. A dead person (like Ted Williams, say) cryogenically frozen by Alcor Corp. will remain dead forever no matter what you do.
That's probably what OP was after, but as the thread develops it's becoming clear that we have to nail down the classical understanding of entropy before we can start considering the quantum-mechanical complications. This thread has been moved to the Classical Physics section.anorlunda said:This thread is in the Quantum Mechanics forum, but most of the replies deal with the macro world. I thought that the OP was seeking a QM explanation of the 2nd law.
MY articlephinds said:WHAT article? There have been several articles referenced in this thread. You need to let people know what you are talking about.
secur said:What do you say? Are you really going to claim modern physics - statistical thermodynamics, QM, whatever - proves rotten bodies can resurrect? If so, I'll drop the discussion - not convinced, but overruled.
Entropy is not reversible because it is a measure of disorder or randomness in a system. In any spontaneous process, the overall disorder of the system increases, leading to a higher entropy. However, it is nearly impossible for a system to spontaneously decrease in disorder, which means that the entropy cannot be reversed.
The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a closed system will always increase over time. As entropy is a measure of disorder, this means that the disorder of a system will always increase over time, making it impossible to reverse the process and decrease the entropy.
In theory, it is possible to decrease the entropy of a system. However, this would require a significant amount of energy and effort, and it would not be a spontaneous process. The only way to decrease entropy in a system is by adding external energy and performing specific actions to decrease the disorder.
There are a few rare cases where the entropy of a system can decrease without adding external energy. For example, in a chemical reaction where the products have less disorder than the reactants, the overall entropy can decrease. However, these cases are uncommon and do not contradict the second law of thermodynamics.
The arrow of time refers to the fact that time only moves in one direction, from past to future. Entropy plays a crucial role in this as it is closely related to the concept of disorder and randomness, which only increases over time. This means that as time moves forward, the entropy of a system will also increase, leading to the arrow of time.