Into the cool : energy flow, thermodynamics, and life / Eric D. Schneider and Dorion Sagan
- Bib ID:
- 3534431
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Schneider, Eric D
- Online Version:
- Table of contents
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- Description:
-
- Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2005
- xviii, 362 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
- ISBN:
- 0226739368
- Summary:
-
"Scientists, theologians, and philosophers have all sought to answer the questions of why we are here and where we are going. This natural basis of life has proved elusive, but in Into the Cool, Eric D. Schneider and Dorion Sagan look for answers in a surprising place: the second law of thermodynamics. This second law refers to energy's inevitable tendency to change from being concentrated in one place to becoming spread out over time. Although the second law is usually and correctly associated with molecular chaos - and thus with aging, loss, and death - Schneider and Sagan show that it is also vital to life and complexity; it is behind evolution, ecology, economics, and even life's origin. More observable than divine caprice, more real than computer simulations, and more basic than natural selection is the organizing, complexity-giving power of the second law.".
"Working from the precept that "nature abhors a gradient," Into the Cool details how complex systems emerge, enlarge, and reproduce in a world tending toward disorder. From hurricanes here to life on other worlds, from human evolution to the systems humans have created, this pervasive pull toward equilibrium governs life at its molecular base and at its peak in the elaborate structures of living complex systems."--BOOK JACKET.
- Full contents:
-
- Introduction : trouble at the EPA
- 1. The Schrodinger paradox
- 2. Simplicity
- 3. Eyes of fire : classical energy science
- 4. The cosmic casino : statistical mechanics
- 5. Nature abhors a gradient
- 6. The river must flow : open systems
- 7. Too much, not enough : cycles
- 8. Swirl world
- 9. Physics' own "organisms"
- 10. Whirlpools and weather
- 11. Thermodynamics and life
- 12. Brimstone beginnings
- 13. Blue planet blues
- 14. Regress under stress
- 15. The secret of trees
- 16. Into the cool
- 17. Trends in evolution
- 18. Health, vigor, and longevity
- 19. Economics
- 20. Purpose in life
- App. Principles of open thermodynamic systems.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Sagan, Dorion, 1959-
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2005
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