Putting Your House In Order Is a Waste of Time
By MUNGAI KIHANYA
The Sunday Nation
Nairobi,
26 June 2005
There is a joke among scientists and engineers
regarding the laws governing the science of heat. It is called the
Fourth “law” of thermodynamics. This “law” states that there cannot be a
fourth law of thermodynamics!
The reasoning behind this joke is quite interesting.
In reality there are four laws of thermodynamics. Law number one is not
called the first law; it is the “Zeroth” Law (that is, 0th).
Law number two is known as the First Law, number three is the Second Law
and number four is the Third Law. When you think about it, this is quite
an awkward way to count, especially for people who are supposed to be
good with numbers.
Now, the Zeroth Law was developed by four scientists,
working independently and each wrote it in a different way although they
all meant the same thing. The First Law, on the other hand is attributed
to three people. The Second Law was written by two scientists and the
Third Law was developed by one person.
Therefore, following this sequence, it would appear
logical that zero people (that is nobody) will discover the fourth law.
Thus there cannot be a fourth law of thermodynamics …and that’s the
fourth law!
Jokes aside, the most important principle of
thermodynamics is probably the Second Law – that is, law number three.
It states that it is impossible to reduce the entropy of a system. That
is, any change or process will either increase the entropy or leave it
constant.
But what is entropy? This is a measure of the
disorderliness of a system. Thus the Second Law means that the natural
tendency of things is to become more disorderly. And we see this every
day: It is very easy, for example, to break a drinking glass, but there
is nothing we can do to the broken pieces to return the glass to the
original, “orderly” state.
However, one may argue that the initial process of
making the glass created a more orderly system. But at what cost? If you
go to the glass factory you will find a lot of unsightly (disorderly)
waste coming out of the production process. Thus order is being created
in one place and disorder comes out at another point.
If we did an audit of the whole process, we will find
that the disorder is greater than the order. Thus the net result is an
increase in entropy.
It is the same with our bodies – throughout our lives
we eat very orderly foods to make our beautiful (more orderly) bodies.
But we also produce a lot of ugly waste. If all the waste you have ever
produced in your life was collected in one place and you were asked to
stand next to it, would the beauty of your body overshadow the ugliness
of the waste? That’s the meaning of the Second Law of thermodynamics.
So, next time you want to put some order in your
house, ask yourself this: Where will the (greater) disorder created by
you actions go?
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