Systems left to themselves invariably tend towards disorder (Talk.Origins)

Claim CF001.1:


 * Systems or processes left to themselves invariably tend to move from order to disorder.

Source:
 * Wallace, Timothy, 2002. Five major evolutionist misconceptions about evolution. http://www.trueorigins.org/isakrbtl.asp

CreationWiki response:

Here again is a scientific concept, worded for non scientists. Unfortunately it is poorly worded. A better wording would be:

In the absence of an organizing force, systems or processes invariably tend to go from order to disorder.

(Talk Origins quotes in blue)

This is a a straw man fallacy. It assumes the most restrictive possible meaning of "left to themselves." It also assumes that the claim forbids decreases in entropy. Neither of which is the case, it only speaks of the most natural trend. Finally, my proposed rewording eliminates this argument.

This response is only legitimate with the original wording. With my suggested rewording all three  fail to meet the qualification of being "In the absence of an organizing force."


 * Trees and all living things have an organizing force, i.e. cell functions and cell division, as controlled by DNA.


 * Drying mud has an organizing force in the form of a combination of the contraction of the drying mud and its adherence to the underlining material.


 * Ice crystals have an organizing force resulting from the electrical imbalance in water molecules.



So all three examples have an organizing force.

This is the lynch pin of the Talk Origins argument. However when entropy is examined statistically it can be considered a measure of randomness. Now the more random a system is the more disordered it is. The formula for statistical entropy is:



S is entropy.

k is the Boltzmann Constant =

is the number of equivalent equally probable configurations. This is a direct measurement of disorder.

Random or disordered systems have such a significantly higher number of equivalent equally probable configurations, that they can basically be considered inevitable. Now it is true that entropy is not equivalent to disorder, but entropy is logarithmically related to disorder. Entropy can be considered a measurement of disorder in the way that the Richter Scale is a measurement of earthquakes or decibels are a measurement of sound. The result is that it is accurate to call entropy a measure of disorder.

True, but it can be shown that disorder as applied to any set of statistical states can also be relevant to thermodynamics; both microscopic and macroscopic. It also needs to be noted that increased disorder on the molecular level causes an increase in disorder at the macroscopic level.

This is totally false! The above referred-to text book [Bromberg] uses analysis of the entropy of an unshuffled and shuffled deck of cards as an example of the statistical analysis of entropy. This works on organisms, cars, and buildings, as well as a deck of cards.

Related Reference

 * Ranganathan, Bagu. "Evolutionists Still Wrong on Entropy!" The Conservative Voice, May 9, 2008. Accessed May 11, 2008.