Dat questions

[sules]

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Could someone please answer this question for me?

Although entropy continually increases within the universe as a whole, developing organisms gradually become more organized. What are these organisms capable of doing to aid this process?

a. Lowering activation energy with enzymes
b. Violating the Second Law of Thermodynamics
c. Using external sources of energy
d. Concentrating their own molecules so that energy flow is reversed
e. Creating energy

 

[OUDent88]

Could someone please answer this question for me?

Although entropy continually increases within the universe as a whole, developing organisms gradually become more organized. What are these organisms capable of doing to aid this process?

a. Lowering activation energy with enzymes
b. Violating the Second Law of Thermodynamics
c. Using external sources of energy
d. Concentrating their own molecules so that energy flow is reversed
e. Creating energy

So basically this is kind of a tricky concept...I'll try to explain with examples. Looking at the earth as a whole, it's not an isolated system because it works with its surroundings by receiving energy in the form of heat from the sun and then radiating energy back into space. The 2nd law of thermodynamics doesn't pertain to "one certain aspect" of the universe having an increase in entropy, but rather the "net" or "total" entropy increasing as a whole. Any decrease in entropy, for instance water becoming ice in a freezer, must compensate with an increase in entropy somewhere else, for instance the heat released in the kitchen by the refrigerator doing work.

Looking at example A, this is a bad example but it works. Think of the enzymes as the temperature in degrees of the freezer. When you lower activation energy, you provide an alternate pathway for that reaction to take place so that it can happen easier. Water needs a certain amount energy to become ice and a freezer uses a certain amount of energy to do its job. By decreasing the temperature, you are allowing the water to become ice faster which decreases the activation energy of the water to ice. So the point of that is, the entropy of the water is decreasing when it turns to ice but the "net" or "total" entropy is increasing because the freezer must work harder to turn the water to ice faster thereby creating greater heat and increasing the entropy.

For example B, you wont violate the 2nd law of thermodynamics if the "net"increase in entropy of the universe is greater then the "net decrease of entropy of the universe.

And for the other examples, like the other law of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed so I dont really have good examples for the rest but i hope this helps you go in the right direction to work this out.

 

[r4nb]

E. Creating energy

This energy can then be transformed into other energy, or can be dissipated as heat, which increases the entropy of the universe. Just me rationalizing the question, but not sure if that's 100% correct. What's the correct answer btw?