Re: Re[2]: philosophical curiosity in a long summer afternoon

[Brian_Gaulke@hc-sc.gc.ca]

Brian Gaulke
07/23/98 03:55 PM

The original query wasn't mine.  And I wasn't thinking of entropy because I
was only talking about systems which are far from being isolated.
Isolation is required to ensure that entropy changes are always
non-negative.

Brian R. Gaulke, CHP
Head, Dosimetry Section
Radiation Protection Bureau
Health Canada
Phone:    (613) 941-0143
Fax: (613) 957-0960
E-mail:   Brian_Gaulke@hc-sc.gc.ca





TDC @ ehssun.lbl.gov on 98/07/23 13:26:06

Please respond to radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu

To:   radsafe @ romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
cc:    (bcc: Brian Gaulke)
Subject:  Re[2]: philosophical curiosity in a long summer afternoon




>Brian Gaulke
>07/23/98 10:44 AM
>No.   Entropy was the furthest thing from my mind.  But, since you mention
>it, entropy would be expected to increase where ever heat is being added
>to a system.
That may not have been what you MEANT to say but infact your whole query
about using energy from stored sources and depleting energy (I don't have
you exact words handy) was merely an observation that entropy increases.
And THAT is a basic premise of physics that in a natural system entrophy
will ALWAYS increase - and thus the entropy of the universe is constantly
increasing (setting aside for the moment the oscillatory theory).