Before the explosion, we say that the dynamite’s energy is high quality: it’s concentrated and easy to access. After the explosion, we say that the energy is low quality: it’s spread out and difficult to utilize. And since the exploding dynamite fully abides by the second law, going from order to disorder—from low entropy to high entropy—we associate low entropy with high-quality energy and high entropy with low-quality energy. Yes, I know. It’s a lot of highs and lows to keep track of. But the conclusion is pithy: whereas the first law of thermodynamics declares that the quantity of energy is
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