In your biology career, you may come across people attempting to use the Second Law of Thermodynamics to discredit the idea of evolution. Their argument goes something like this:
The theory of evolution says that life evolved from smaller inorganic molecules to larger organic molecules to simple one-celled organisms to more complex multicellular organisms, moving towards more complexity and organization. But the Second Law of Thermodynamics says that entropy always increases, with everything moving towards increasing disorder. Therefore, if the Second Law is correct, then evolution is impossible.
How would you respond to this argument? Are they correct that evolution and the Second Law are fundamentally incompatible? If so, which one (evolution or the Second Law) is wrong, and why? If not, what are the flaws in their argument? Explain your reasoning, based on your knowledge of thermodynamics and evolution.
In your biology career, you may come across people attempting to use the Second Law of Thermodynamics to discredit the idea of evolution. Their argument goes something like this:
The theory of evolution says that life evolved from smaller inorganic molecules to larger organic molecules to simple one-celled organisms to more complex multicellular organisms, moving towards more complexity and organization. But the Second Law of Thermodynamics says that entropy always increases, with everything moving towards increasing disorder. Therefore, if the Second Law is correct, then evolution is impossible.
How would you respond to this argument? Are they correct that evolution and the Second Law are fundamentally incompatible? If so, which one (evolution or the Second Law) is wrong, and why? If not, what are the flaws in their argument? Explain your reasoning, based on your knowledge of thermodynamics and evolution.
