Thermodynamics

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Thermodynamics is the study of the transfer of heat energy. There are three main laws of thermodynamics, the second being frequently brought into arguments against evolution.

Laws[edit]

First[edit]

In any process, the total energy of the universe remains constant.

Second[edit]

There is no process that, operating in a cycle, produces no other effect than the subtraction of a positive amount of heat from a reservoir and the production of an equal amount of work.

Alternatively:

The entropy of an isolated macroscopic system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium.

Third[edit]

As temperature approaches absolute zero, the entropy of a system approaches a constant.

Alternative descriptions[edit]

The laws of thermodynamics have also been described in a tongue-in-cheek way as:

  1. You can't win.
  2. You can't break even.
  3. And you can't get out of the game.

Alternatively, thermodynamics is understood to give time a direction. [1] Without time going forward, the universe would be a very strange place, where things would spontaneously un-break, un-burn, un-fall, etc.

Apologetics/Counter-apologetics[edit]

Argument for God from the 2nd law[edit]

Main Article: Argument from the second law of thermodynamics

Creationists sometimes claim that evolution contradicts the second law of thermodynamics. This is usually due to a misunderstanding of what the second law actually says, or else due to the false assumption that the Earth is an isolated (closed) system.

Argument for God from the 1st law[edit]

Main Article: Argument from conservation of energy

Energy conservation means the total amount of energy in the universe is fixed. Therefore the energy requires an external cause i.e. God.

Argument for a finite age of the universe from the 2nd law[edit]

Main Article: Second law of thermodynamics implies the universe is of finite age

The amount of usable energy is decreasing. It cannot have been decreasing indefinitely, so the universe had a beginning.

Fine tuning of entropy[edit]

The initial conditions of the universe was low entropy. This requires a cause. Natural processes would violate the second law of thermodynamics. Therefore, God. This is a variant of the fine tuning argument.

"Only the creator of the second law of thermodynamics could violate the second law of thermodynamics, and create energy in a state of availability in the first place. [2]"

Other[edit]

There is also a rough thermodynamic argument against the existence of an orderly God that could create the universe.

References[edit]

  1. Entropy (arrow of time), Wikipedia [1]
  2. John M. Cimbala, Does the Second Law of Thermodynamics Prove the Existence of God?, 2000 [2]

External links[edit]

  • secondlaw.com explains the second law of thermodynamics.
  • 2ndlaw.com fields questions generated by the previous site, including issues with evolution.