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What is entropy?

Discussion in 'Whatnots' started by Silverblade, Jun 29, 2002.

  1. Silverblade Guest

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    [​IMG] I came across this word a few times now(first time I saw it was in P:Torment) and I still wonder what it means. I looked in the dictionary, but I couldn't find it. I know a lot of people here have English as their first language and the other people here probably have more knowledge about English then me, so that is why I ask my question, what does entropy mean?
     
    Silverblade, Jun 29, 2002
    #1
  2. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Entropy is a measure of disorder in a system.
     
    Blackthorne TA, Jun 30, 2002
    #2
  3. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    [​IMG] Main Entry: en·tro·py
    Pronunciation: 'en-tr&-pE
    Function: noun
    Inflected Form(s): plural -pies
    Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary 2en- + Greek tropE change, literally, turn, from trepein to turn
    Date: 1875

    1 : a measure of the unavailable energy in a closed thermodynamic system that is also usually considered to be a measure of the system's disorder and that is a property of the system's state and is related to it in such a manner that a reversible change in heat in the system produces a change in the measure which varies directly with the heat change and inversely with the absolute temperature at which the change takes place; broadly : the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system

    2 a : the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity b : a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder

    3 : CHAOS, DISORGANIZATION, RANDOMNESS

    In Torment, the meaning is chaos.
     
    Taluntain, Jun 30, 2002
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  4. ShadowDaemon Gems: 3/31
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    Entropy is more than a word. Entropy is a way of life. (note, I dont play planescape, nor do i affiliate with the so called 'Doomguard') Its my motto, and my lifestyle. I have a tattoo of a decayed hand on my back with the word Entropy across my shoulders. it means everything liveing, dies. Everything we make, falls apart. Governments decend to anarchy, and there is nothing we can do about it. Opposed to what you may think, this Is an optimistic point of veiw for me, to me, it means that enjoy life for the moment and dont dwell on tommarrow, because of the reasons stated above. Love life folks!! ;)
     
    ShadowDaemon, Jun 30, 2002
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  5. Christopher_Lee Gems: 10/31
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    A good definition of "organism" I heard about was that they were closed systems in which entropy decreases, rather than increases, as it does in the universe...
     
    Christopher_Lee, Jul 1, 2002
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  6. Invoker Gems: 12/31
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    Change in entropy can never be negative. Entropy can only increase in a system. That's the second law of thermodynamics.

    On the other hand, I've read some articles from Ilya Prigogine (he's a physicist that got a nobel prise in chemistry hehe) about his self-organisation theory.
    Basicly claiming that chaotic systems tend to end in organised states showing how life started as an example with nonlinear dynamics study of cellular structure.

    But the second law of thermodynamics, so far, is absolute.
     
    Invoker, Jul 1, 2002
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  7. Vukodlak Gems: 22/31
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    Always wondered - what about snowflakes? They seem to decrease in entropy (system becomes more ordered) yet there does not appear to be an input of energy?
     
    Vukodlak, Jul 1, 2002
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  8. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    A snowflake is not a closed system. Energy must be expended to take the heat out of that water and create that snowflake. Where does the energy come from that drives weather/storms? Why, the Sun.
     
    Blackthorne TA, Jul 1, 2002
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  9. Padine the Paladin Guest

    The sword of Entropy that haer'dalis has means sword of chaos.
     
    Padine the Paladin, Jul 1, 2002
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  10. Vukodlak Gems: 22/31
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    [​IMG] But surely if you took away the sun - the water would turn to ice - again a highly ordered structure - low entropy. Come to think of it what about crystals in general?
     
    Vukodlak, Jul 1, 2002
    #10
  11. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    To make water into ice, you have to cool it (transfer of heat energy from the water to the surroundings). That loss of entropy in the water is opposed by a greater increase in entropy in the surroundings that are cooling it because any transfer of energy involves an increase in entropy due to the process of that transfer.
     
    Blackthorne TA, Jul 2, 2002
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  12. eveningdrive Gems: 8/31
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    So, Silverblade... did it get a lot clearer? :p

    :grin:

    :hippy:
     
    eveningdrive, Jul 2, 2002
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  13. Xaelifer Gems: 10/31
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    Entropy is what's happening to this topic as more people decide they know the answer to your question, and miscreants shake salt on it.
     
    Xaelifer, Jul 2, 2002
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  14. the god Gems: 13/31
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    *shake, shake* :p

    no system is truly closed. ;)

    as for organisms, i read an interesting 'definition' a few weeks ago, calling them 'a network of interacting negative feedbacks resulting in an overall positive feedback'. or something. :square:
     
    the god, Jul 2, 2002
    #14

  15. Silverblade Guest

    Eveningdrive - Yeah, the meaning of the word got clearer to me. Didn't mean to start a whole conversation about phyics however, I was just curious what the word meant.
     
    Silverblade, Jul 2, 2002
    #15
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