DNAunion: Here are some interesting things I ran across as I skimmed web
pages in my "Vague appeals to OST" searches.
++++++++++++++
"Blockage of the second law is absolutely necessary for us to be alive and
happy. Not one of the complex chemical substances in our body and few in the
things we enjoy would exist for a microsecond if the second law wasn't
obstructed. Its [italics]tendency[italics] is never eliminated but,
fortunately for us, there are a huge number of compounds in which it is
blocked for our lifetimes and longer." (http://www.secondlaw.com/two.html)
+++++++++++
Note that the following quotes references thermodynamics in relation to life,
and IT CORRECTLY INCLUDES THE MOLECULAR MACHINES USED BY LIFE, thus avoiding
the charge of "vague appeal to open-system thermodynamics".
+++++++++++++
"Because of the second law about energy flow's direction, life is always
threatened. Every organic chemical of the 10,000 different kinds in our
bodies is metastable, synthesized by a nonspontaneous reaction and only kept
from instant oxidation in air by activation energies. (Loss or even the
radical decrease of just a few chemicals could mean death for us.)
Living creatures are essentially energy processing systems that cannot
function unless a multitude of "molecular machines", biochemical cycles,
operate synchronically to use (process) energy to oppose second law
predictions. All of the thousands of biochemical systems that run our bodies
are maintained and regulated by feedback subsystems, many composed of complex
substances.
Most of these compounds as well as the rest of the 10,000 are synthesized
internally by thermodynamically nonspontaneous reactions, effected by
utilizing energy ultimately transferred from the metabolism (slow
oxidation) of food. These metabolic and synthetic processes are also governed
by feedback subsystems.
When these feedback subsystems fail -- due to inadequate energy inflow,
malfunction from critical errors in synthesis, the presence of toxins or
competing agents such as bacteria or viruses -- dysfunction, illness, or
death results: energy can no longer be processed to carry out the many
reactions we need for life that are contrary to the direction predicted by
the second law." (http://www.secondlaw.com/five.html)
+++++++++++++++++++
Finally, here is another example of tendency differing from behavior (and it
mentions both gravity and the 2nd law).
++++++++++++++++++
"Here's a simple illustration: If I hold a half-pound rock in my fingers so
it is ready to fall, it has potential energy concentrated in it because it is
up above the ground. If the second law is so great and powerful, why doesn't
the energy that has been concentrated in the rock spread out? Obviously, it
can't do that because my fingers are "bonding" to it, keeping it from
falling. The second law isn't violated. That rock [italics]tends[italics] to
fall and diffuse its energy to the air and to the ground as it hits -- and it
[italics]will[italics] do so [italics]spontaneously[italics] by itself,
without any help -- the second I open my fingers and "unbond" the rock."
(http://www.secondlaw.com/two.html)
+++++++++++++++
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Nov 24 2000 - 17:24:14 EST