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366 bytes added ,  15:54, March 13, 2007
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:On the contrary, 2nd law is indeed violated on the quantum scale, and even on the macro scale if you wait a ''very'' long time. [[User:Tsumetai|Tsumetai]] 11:38, 13 March 2007 (EDT)
 
:On the contrary, 2nd law is indeed violated on the quantum scale, and even on the macro scale if you wait a ''very'' long time. [[User:Tsumetai|Tsumetai]] 11:38, 13 March 2007 (EDT)
 
::But for most, if not all, systems, that would be a meaninglessly long time for a noticeable violation. I'm not sure that the concept of entropy is actually applicable on the quantum scale (whatever that may mean ;-). Entropy is a thermodynamic quantity and hence is only meaningful for large assemblies of particles. [[User:PaulB|PaulB]] 11:46, 13 March 2007 (EDT)
 
::But for most, if not all, systems, that would be a meaninglessly long time for a noticeable violation. I'm not sure that the concept of entropy is actually applicable on the quantum scale (whatever that may mean ;-). Entropy is a thermodynamic quantity and hence is only meaningful for large assemblies of particles. [[User:PaulB|PaulB]] 11:46, 13 March 2007 (EDT)
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:::Yes, the timescales are almost inconceivable on any noticeable scale.
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:::Entropy can certainly be formulated in QM terms, though. For that matter, large assemblies of particles can still be quantum-mechanical in nature; consider the difference between Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics in stat mech. [[User:Tsumetai|Tsumetai]] 11:54, 13 March 2007 (EDT)
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