RE: And as for the Second Law of Thermodynamics....

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-wsn@csf.colorado.edu [mailto:owner-wsn@csf.colorado.edu]On
Behalf Of Spectors

Of course "entropy" exists in certain systems. But making a general
statement is very different from making the leap of asserting that it
applies in a particular situation. That's a dogmatic style of argumentation
based on asserting the general principle and then insisting that anyone who
disagrees with their specific application of that principle is going against
a universally recognized "truth."
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If you could drop the political rhetoric for a minute Mr. Spectors, and ask
some specific questions, I would be happy to answer them for you.  Instead
you prefer to wear your ignorance like a merit badge.

The twelve step analogy is quite appropriate.  Although you are obviously
unaware of it, the entropy law directly impacts most of us every day.

As we know from physics, to accomplish a certain amount of work requires a
minimum energy input. For example, lifting 15 kg of rock 5 meters out of the
ground requires 735 joules of energy just to overcome gravity – and the
higher the lift, the greater the minimum energy requirements.  This applies
equally to Capitalist lifting and Communist lifting. <G>

Combustion engines that actually do work – so-called “heat engines” – also
consume a great deal of energy.[1] The efficiency of heat engines is limited
by thermodynamic principles discovered over 150 years ago by N. L. S.
Carnot. [2] Thus, a typical auto, bulldozer, truck, or power plant wastes
more than 50 percent of the energy contained in its fuel.  This entropy law
applies equally to Capitalist automobiles and Communist automobiles. <G>

Welcome to the physical world Mr. Spectors.   Neither capital nor labor can
create energy.   Neither Greenspan nor Marx can print oil.

Jay -- www.dieoff.org
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[1]  combustion, steam, or gas turbines are called heat engines because they
convert fuel into heat, then into mechanical motion.

[2] A typical gasoline engine with a compression ratio of 8:1 cannot exceed
a theoretical 45 percent efficiency, in practice might be about 35 percent;
for a diesel with 20:1 it's 55 percent, 45 percent; for a turbine with 30:1
it's 60 percent, 50 percent.

Carnot, Nicolas Léonard Sadi (1796-1832), French physicist and military
engineer, son of Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot, born in Paris, and
educated at the École Polytechnique. In 1824 he described his conception of
the perfect engine, the so-called Carnot engine, in which all available
energy is utilized. He discovered that heat cannot pass from a colder to a
warmer body, and that the efficiency of an engine depends upon the amount of
heat it is able to utilize. These discoveries led to the development of the
Carnot Cycle, which later became the basis for the second law of
thermodynamics.