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The '''Second Law of Thermodynamics''' is a fundamental truth about the tendency towards disorder in the absence of intelligent intervention.  This principle correctly predicts that heat will never flow from a cold body to a warmer one, unless forced to do so by a man-made machine.  Or, as [[Isaac Asimov]] observed,

The '''Second Law of Thermodynamics''' is a fundamental truth about the tendency towards disorder in the absence of intelligent intervention.  This principle correctly predicts that heat will never flow from a cold body to a warmer one, unless forced to do so by a man-made machine.  As [[Isaac Asimov]] observed,

{{Cquote|Another way of stating the second law then is: The universe is constantly getting more disorderly.  Viewed that way, we can see the second law all about us. We have to work to straighten a room, but left to itself it becomes a mess again very quickly and very easily. Even if we never enter it, it becomes dusty and musty. How difficult to maintain houses, and machinery, and our bodies in perfect working order: how easy to let them deteriorate. In fact, '''''all we have to do is nothing, and everything deteriorates, collapses, breaks down, wears out, all by itself -- and that is what the second law is all about'''''.|||Isaac Asimov, Smithsonian Institute Journal, June 1970, p. 6, emphasis added}}

{{Cquote|Another way of stating the second law then is: The universe is constantly getting more disorderly.  Viewed that way, we can see the second law all about us. We have to work to straighten a room, but left to itself it becomes a mess again very quickly and very easily. Even if we never enter it, it becomes dusty and musty. How difficult to maintain houses, and machinery, and our bodies in perfect working order: how easy to let them deteriorate. In fact, '''''all we have to do is nothing, and everything deteriorates, collapses, breaks down, wears out, all by itself -- and that is what the second law is all about'''''.|||Isaac Asimov, Smithsonian Institute Journal, June 1970, p. 6, emphasis added}}

The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the result of the intrinsic uncertainty in nature, manifest in [[quantum mechanics]], which is overcome only by intelligent intervention.  As explained in the [[Letter to the Hebrews]] 1:10-11, the universe shall "wear out" like a "garment", i.e., entropy is always increasing.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the result of the intrinsic uncertainty in nature, manifest in [[quantum mechanics]], which is overcome only by intelligent intervention.  As explained in the [[Letter to the Hebrews]] 1:10-11, the universe shall "wear out" like a "garment", ''i.e.'', [[entropy]] is always increasing.

This law makes it impossible to build a [[perpetual motion machine]] - the increase in entropy inevitably derails the system even if energy remains constant.

This law makes it impossible to build a [[perpetual motion machine]] - the increase in entropy inevitably derails the system even if energy remains constant.