Scientists Say Life Is a Consequence of Entropy

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Scientists have several theories about how life began, such as near hydrothermal vents providing energy for chemical reactions that produced the first living organisms.

As reported by IFL Science, however, some scientists argue that there is a more fundamental explanation, namely that life is a consequence of entropy.

Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system. When a system has high entropy (or high disorder), its components can be replaced and the results will be almost the same.

However, in the universe there are objects, such as life, that have low entropy. This may seem to violate the second law of thermodynamics (which states that entropy in a closed system always increases, or that everything tends to be disorderly).

But in reality this is not the case. Life does not violate the second law because it takes energy from the environment, expelling energy to temporarily lower its entropy, like when you push snow into the shape of a snowman, creating temporary order, until entropy pulls it back into chaos.

When the entire system (including the energy source for life, and the heat given off by life) is taken into account, the entire system continues toward entropy.

This statistical law of the universe was first discovered by Rudolf Clausius, who observed that heat flows from objects at higher temperatures to objects at lower temperatures, and not vice versa. According to England, life and life-like structures could emerge in complex and chaotic environments with better ways of distributing heat throughout the environment.

In other words, life and life-like structures emerged as a consequence of entropy, due to its ability to distribute heat.

In one paper, England simulated a complex soup of 25 chemicals at varying concentrations with varying energy levels applied to a system to “force” a chemical reaction to occur, much like sunlight can trigger the production of ozone in our atmosphere (thanks, entropy) .

The idea that life is a consequence of entropy is an interesting and challenging one. This suggests that life may not just be the result of random events, but is the result of fundamental laws of physics.

Although this research is still in its early stages, it could help us to better understand the origins of life on Earth and elsewhere in the universe.

(wbs)