25/03/2007

At Least Understand It

This is typical of posts I see on the internet:

Believe it or not, you were perfect when you were born. You were obviously healthy if you are posting here today, you hadn't sinned, and were making choices and using your free will, though they were small choices. Unfortunately, later in your life you made some bad choices and now you are a sinner, but remember, God MADE you perfect.

One of the most basic laws in the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that as time goes by, entropy in an environment will increase. Evolution argues differently against a law that is accepted EVERYWHERE BY EVERYONE. Evolution says that we started out simple, and over time became more complex. That just isn't possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of energy supplying the Earth with huge amounts of energy. If there were such a source, scientists would certainly know about it.

From here.

Well, the bit about evolution breaking the Second Law is true, it could only happen if there was a giant energy source outside the Earth, supplying it with lots of energy.

Fortunately for the theory of evolution we have a huge external nuclear fusion based power source, and it is well known to scientists (and everyone else for that matter). It is called the Sun.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

5 comments:

Krystalline Apostate said...

You mean, "Well, IF the bit about evolution breaking the Second Law is true, it could only happen if there was a giant energy source outside the Earth, supplying it with lots of energy."
Don't you?
Welcome to the blogroll, BTW.

Gary McGath said...

You're conceding too much. The Second Law of Thermodynamics says that entropy cannot decrease in a closed system. The creationist claim that it says "entropy will increase in an environment" is simply false; there's no such law of science.

The creationists generally reply to the correct formulation by saying, "Open system, closed system, what's the difference?" At that point they're denying the existence of refrigerators, and it's useless to argue further with them.

Ed said...

Evolution taken on it's own would violate the Second Law. Trying to separate it so it is on it's own would be rather futile however.

Gary - I took "entropy will increase in an environment" in the context that they thought it was a closed system (it is in fact open, and by no means just because of the sun).

Hawks said...

I think it might be important to realize that even if there was no input of energy from the Sun, evolution would still not be impossible according to the 2nd law of thermodynamics - our planet would not be at thermal equilibrium in the absense of this energy source.

Ed said...

The earth would be at thermal equilibrium without the sun, when the heat generated by radioactive decay and other sources balanced that radiated from the surface.

It would not exclude evolution, as it would be possible to use other energy sources, such as thermal vents, etc.

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