There's a question I've heard on more than one occasion.
"Doesn't evolution or life itself violate the second law of thermodynamics?"
The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a closed system must always increase. And entropy is a measure of the disorderliness of a system.
So, I've been reading Nick Lane's book 'The Vital Question', and I've come across a few interesting ideas.
Apparently, there's a lot of difference between things that "seem disordered" and things that "are disordered".
An example is:
While an irregular mixture of oil and water might seem less orderly than the lipid bi-membrane of a cell, it is not so,
Lane argues that this conundrum arises because we tend to ignore the subtle balance between a system and its environment.
A lipid bi-membrane is a stable, low energy configuration of molecules, and in achieving that configuration, the molecules lose heat. The overall entropy increases.
I suppose the same argument might be applied to explain the evolution of some, if not all molecular machinery in the early cell prototypes.
While the example I've chosen here, from Lane's book, is quite simple, I would love to know about the changes in entropy when considering a more complex organic molecule,
Any input regarding the same, can be shared in the comments section.
P.S. I'll be sharing my thoughts on the book, as and when I read it. I would highly recommend reading "The Vital Question", as it tries to answer some of the most difficult, yet fundamental questions in biology.
"Doesn't evolution or life itself violate the second law of thermodynamics?"
The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a closed system must always increase. And entropy is a measure of the disorderliness of a system.
So, I've been reading Nick Lane's book 'The Vital Question', and I've come across a few interesting ideas.
Apparently, there's a lot of difference between things that "seem disordered" and things that "are disordered".
An example is:
While an irregular mixture of oil and water might seem less orderly than the lipid bi-membrane of a cell, it is not so,
Lane argues that this conundrum arises because we tend to ignore the subtle balance between a system and its environment.
A lipid bi-membrane is a stable, low energy configuration of molecules, and in achieving that configuration, the molecules lose heat. The overall entropy increases.
I suppose the same argument might be applied to explain the evolution of some, if not all molecular machinery in the early cell prototypes.
While the example I've chosen here, from Lane's book, is quite simple, I would love to know about the changes in entropy when considering a more complex organic molecule,
Any input regarding the same, can be shared in the comments section.
P.S. I'll be sharing my thoughts on the book, as and when I read it. I would highly recommend reading "The Vital Question", as it tries to answer some of the most difficult, yet fundamental questions in biology.
