Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe

by Brian Greene

The second law of thermodynamics focuses on entropy. Unlike the first law, the second is not a law of conservation. It is a law of growth. The second law declares that over time there is an overwhelming tendency of entropy to increase. In colloquial terms, special configurations tend to evolve toward ordinary ones (your carefully pressed shirt becomes creased and wrinkled) or order tends to descend into disorder (your organized garage degenerates into a haphazard mess of tools, storage boxes, and sporting equipment). While this depiction provides fine intuitive imagery, Boltzmann’s statistical formulation of entropy allows us to describe the second law with precision and, just as important, gain a clear understanding of why it’s true.