Second Law of Thermodynamics

Source status: Attributed to Rudolf Clausius and Lord Kelvin

The total entropy (disorder) of an isolated system never decreases. Left alone, things get more disordered, not less.

- Rudolf Clausius and Lord Kelvin

Category: Murphy's Miscellaneous Laws

Votes: 0 up, 0 down

Corollaries

3 consequences of this law

Clausius Statement

Heat never flows from a colder body to a warmer one by itself.

0 up, 0 down

Kelvin Statement

No engine can turn all of its heat into work. Some is always lost.

0 up, 0 down

Local Decrease Corollary

You can reduce the disorder in one place, such as your desk, only by creating at least as much somewhere else.

0 up, 0 down

In context

This law belongs with Murphy's Miscellaneous Laws, where small assumptions, timing, and system complexity tend to turn into memorable failures.

Keep exploring laws from this topic or browse the full archive for neighboring ideas.

Improve this entry

Know the original source, a better attribution, or a duplicate we should merge? Report an issue.