(February 3, 2014 at 5:14 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote:(February 3, 2014 at 5:01 pm)pocaracas Wrote: This is in Esq's link, but it just has to be spelled out.
The second law states that, in a closed system, the level of entropy cannot decrease.
Now, if you ask me, the Earth is anything but a closed system. The sun is sort of constantly supplying energy... and this tiny planet only captures a bit of all the energy that's being sent out.
It is thus excused to have a bit of negative entropy on the biomass...
Nevermind the Earth, organisms aren't even closed systems!
yes, but the Earth is big. The Sun is waaaaaayyyy bigger!
This seems like the simplest way to explain to simple minds how they have been deceived.
If I talk about organisms, it just makes them go back to saying that it's the evolution of these organisms that's causing negative entropy and they'll never get that this evolution is a part of a much greater system.