Good morning, dear ones, I hope you are all doing well! Today I’d like to discuss the laws of thermodynamics. Most of us know the three laws, however there is a fourth one not often taught or discussed. It sort of reminds me of the four types of matter, we all learn about solid, liquid, and gas, but rarely learn about the fourth, plasma. Seems to be a similar situation with this fourth law, it isn’t even numbered, it’s given a name instead, Zeroth law. That’s simply because this law actually needed to come before the other three, but was figured out long after the three laws were well known. Who wants to be the guy that’s confuses everyone by renaming laws? Just think how upset we are all for poor Pluto, and that’s a piece of rock not a scientific law.
The first law of thermodynamics we all understand, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Kayliegh and I discussed this when we were reviewing plants. The plants take the nutrients from the soil, water, sunlight, to have energy to grow. Once full grown someone or something eats it, gaining energy themselves. That’s probably is an oversimplification, but that’s the great thing about these laws, they apply so easily. You can get really deep, and the mathematical equations are insane, or you can make science come to life by giving examples of everyday life. Unless you like math, in which case…knock yourself out my friend!
The second law is one that every good young earth Creationist knows, all things tend towards disorder, or entropy. For a good year after I first introduced this concept to Kayliegh she found entropy everywhere. If we went for a drive she spotted old barns, rusting cars, or dilapidated buildings. My favorite example is still her room, boy does that tend towards disorder! It takes energy expounded to keep things organized, a lot of energy. On a smaller level the best example is gas molecules. We ought to be very thankful every breath we take that God created this law. If all the things we need to breath in suddenly tended towards organization they’d collect themselves into a corner and we’d suffocate. Instead, they disperse into disorder, filling any room, box, or space they happen to be in.
The third law is not as easy to put into a simplified expression. Not even Physics for Dummies could help me out in this. Basically, this law states that as entropy reaches a constant the temperature will reach absolute zero. Absolute zero is absolutely fascinating. Yup, that probably sounded better in my head, but I stick by it. In other words, as things revolve into complete disorder atoms will stop moving totally, which is what absolute zero causes. I’ll have to do a separate post on that, it’s genuinely a mind blowing field of study. I have yet to think of examples of this in real life, if you do please feel free to share on the comments!
The final law, which should actually be the first, is the Zeroth Law. I tried to make my mind tell my hands to type this first but my OCD took over and respectfully refused to switch the orders. I’m sorry to my scientifically minded friends who are screaming this should be first. This law is in reference to thermal equilibrium. Equilibrium is another word for balance, particularly in regards to two opposing forces. Thermal equilibrium, of course, means temperature balance. This is imperative when considering temperature scales, so it really does belong at the beginning. We probably won’t dig too deeply into this law, but I thought it would be fun to say equilibrium, so I added just this little bit.
Those are the laws, my friends, and next week we’ll look into the principles that apply to those laws. I hope you can see the clear design within Gods amazingly ordered universe. I also hope this opens your mind to better glorify the God who, while upholding all things, saves wretches like us. I’d also love to know if any of you were taught three or four laws in school? Let me know in the comments. I pray this series, as we near the end, will bless you all. As always, beloved brethren, be good Berean’s and study to show yourselves approved.
Tulips & Honey 