Order and disorder in open systems

In isolated physical systems differences in pressure, temperature, and chemical potential tend to even out. This principle of decay is called the second law of thermodynamics. It can be derived from the assumed randomness of molecular motion. The second law was postulated by the French physicist Sadi Carnot in his 1824 paper Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire [1], which presented the view that the work done by heat engines, including car engines are due to the flow of heat from a hot to cold body. Entropy is a measure of how much this evening-out process has progressed. Entropy is a measure of disorder. The entropy change dS of a system undergoing any infinitesimal reversible process is given by dq / T, where dq is the heat supplied to the system and T is the absolute temperature of the system. The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy in an isolated system increases. This means that the limiting state of an isolated system is a state of maximum disorder.

[1]  T. Long,et al.  RÉFLEXIONS SUR LA PUISSANCE MOTRICE DU FEU, ET SUR LES MACHINES PROPRES A DÉVELOPPER CETTE PUISSANCE. , 1903 .

[2]  L. Onsager.  Reciprocal Relations in Irreversible Processes. II. , 1931 .

[3]  H. Ziegler.  Thermodynamik und rheologische Probleme , 1957 .

[4]  R. Fox,et al.  Qualms regarding the range of validity of the glansdorff-prigogine criterion for stability of non-equilibrium States. , 1974, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[5]  E. Jaynes.  The Minimum Entropy Production Principle , 1980 .

[6]  Yasuji Sawada,et al.  A Thermodynamic Variational Principle in Nonlinear Non-Equilibrium Phenomena , 1981 .

[7]  H. Ziegler,et al.  Chemical reactions and the principle of maximal rate of entropy production , 1983 .

[8]  H. Ziegler,et al.  On a Principle of Maximal Rate of Entropy Production , 1987 .

[9]  Michael T. Turvey,et al.  Thermodynamic Reasons for Perception--Action Cycles , 1991 .

[10]  Byung Chan Eu,et al.  Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes , 1995 .

[11]  P. Palffy-Muhoray.  Comment on "A Check of Prigogine's Theorem of Minimum Entropy Production in a Rod in a Nonequilibrium Stationary State" , 2001 .

[12]  Joseph Jun,et al.  Formation and structure of ramified charge transportation networks in an electromechanical system. , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[13]  G. Nicolis.  Stability and Dissipative Structures in Open Systems far from Equilibrium , 2007 .