Thursday, January 02, 2014
“The Second Law of Thermodynamics Began at the Fall”
Arguments Christians Shouldn’t Use
by Dr. Tommy Mitchell, AiG-U.S.
November 2, 2010
Some Christians state quite categorically that the second law of thermodynamics began at the Fall. After all, it is obvious that things would not “run down” in a perfect environment, right? How could there be disorder in a world that God pronounced “very good”?
There are several important aspects of the second law of thermodynamics that must be considered in discussing this issue. The most commonly cited issue is that of “disorder.” The term used to describe this disorder is entropy.1 The second law states that closed systems tend towards increased entropy—an increase in disorder. Another way to look at this is that the amount of energy available for work in a closed system is decreasing.2 The law allows for increasing the amount of order in a given system, so when applying the law, the system being discussed must be carefully defined.
So if things are “running down,” does it follow that this would not have begun until man sinned and brought about the effects of the Curse? Actually, this statement does not hold up under closer examination.
