I refuse to be drawn into this discussion as I do not have the time to
devote to it, and because it would quite likely be a waste of that
unavailable time. However, regarding the side comment that Richard Wein
mentioned:
>There has been a discussion recently in talk.origins about whether the
>entropy of the sun is increasing or decreasing. It has been claimed that
>it's decreasing, because nuclear fusion results in a decrease in the number
>of particles. I don't pretend to know whether this is correct, but no doubt
>Stephen, with his thorough knowledge of the Second Law, will be able to
>enlighten us. (Not!)
Even though I am not Stephen, I thought I would chime in here with a
quick comment about this question. It is clear to anyone who does know
what entropy is, and who knows what kinds of processes that happen to
occur in the Sun that the entropy of the Sun *is decreasing* with time as
Richard reports. What *is* increasing in entropy is a) the
electromagnetic field which is carrying (and whose elementary excitations
include) the outbound photons of solar radiation streaming away from the
Sun, and b) the neutrino field whose excitations include the outbound
neutrinos which result as a byproduct of the production of the nuclear
neutrons (in the He-4 product) from the reactant protons.
David Bowman
David_Bowman@georgetowncollege.edu
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