# Linked Questions

5answers
3k views

### Second law of Thermodynamics: Why is it only “almost” always true that entropy is non-decreasing? [duplicate]

Wikipedia - Second law of thermodynamics: ...the entropy of any closed system not in thermal equilibrium almost always increases. I understand that the second law of thermodynamics is based on ...
5answers
739 views

### If particles can find themselves spontaneously arranged, isn't entropy actually decreasing? [duplicate]

Take a box of gas particles. At $t = 0$, the distribution of particles is homogeneous. There is a small probability that at $t = 1$, all particles go to the left side of the box. In this case, entropy ...
3answers
2k views

### Does entropy really always increase (or stay the same)? [duplicate]

Consider this image. If the big (grey) molecules were all to spontaneously move to the left, and the small ones were to move to the right, there would be an increase in order. While unlikely, wouldn'...
2answers
2k views

### Why can't the entropy of an isolated system decrease? [duplicate]

I read that heat cannot flow from cooler body to hotter because for that entropy of the system becomes negative. Why is that so? Why we cannot have negative entropy?
5answers
5k views

### Is a world with constant/decreasing entropy theoretically impossible?

We can imagine many changes to the laws of physics - you could scrap all of electromagnetism, gravity could be an inverse cubed law, even the first law of thermodynamics could hypothetically be broken ...
5answers
9k views

### Is it possible for the entropy in an isolated system to decrease?

As far as I can tell, the concept of entropy is a purely statistical one. In my engineering thermodynamics course we were told that the second law of Thermodynamics states that "the entropy of an ...
1answer
822 views

### consequences of universe in which second law of thermodynamics does not hold [closed]

What would happen if the second law of thermodynamics was not there for governing in every day processes. Can a universe exist and evolve if the second law of thermodynamics does not exist in first ...
2answers
456 views

### Can entropy of a system decrease if we wait long enough?

A ball rests on a smooth surface. The ball's particles are in constant motion. So are the particles of the floor. Some of the ball's particles collide with the floor's particles and transfer kinetic ...
0answers
410 views

### What is the probability that all the air ends up in the upper right corner of the room and we suffocate

Since someone commented this on this question(What is the probability of ice in boiling water?), I would like to ask what is the probability that all the air ends up in the upper right corner of the ...
2answers
77 views

### Can entropy ever decrease in an isolated system? [duplicate]

Consider the simplest such system: a gas-filled chamber. I understand that, were all the gas particles concentrated in one corner, the entropy of the chamber will be lower than the entropy of the same ...