 Physics - Entropy
| Once the molecules have spread out over the entire space, they will never gather in the left subspace
again. |
To be honest, I still don't fully understand the concept of entropy. There are doctors online who almost always explain entropy as a 'measure of disorder.' And this disorder can't help but grow. It's as if parents were idly
watching as the children's room(s) become increasingly chaotic. What makes matters worse is that the future development is also firmly established.
I've progressed a bit since then, because I equate entropy with the 'number of possibilities.' It's easy to believe that these are constantly increasing around us. A good example would be a flashback to the creation of the
world. After all, with the Big Bang, there were probably only hydrogen and helium. Imagine that: all the elements in the periodic table were created from these two elements through nuclear fusion.
Now it's much easier to imagine that the possibilities are increasing. What does that even mean? It opens the door to the time after a successful energy transition, for example. Have you ever considered what it will be like
afterward, even if none of us here live to see it? Let's take a look at a special raw material: copper. Today it is said to still be in circulation, which was already used at the beginning of the Christian era.
But there have certainly been losses, too. Assuming that no mass is actually lost on Earth, copper still slumbers in tiny amounts somewhere in landfills that have mostly been closed long ago. Let's assume that there is
reasonably good documentation or, even better, procedures for detecting these small quantities. One could therefore dredge such landfills and recycle their individual materials.
Before you grab your head and say this isn't worth it at all, please consider that there is an abundance of energy available. As we all know, humans do not stop when their basic energy needs are 100 percent met. And
apparently, the influx of energy from the sun goes unimaginably far beyond this level. For example: If solar panels already exist as foil, then tall streetlights can be turned into charging stations not only at the bottom but also
covered with such foil above them, making them independent of the sun's position.
Mining landfill gold at virtually no cost? All that's missing is the wear and tear on the necessary machines and the human labor. However, it would be a laugh if artificial intelligence were not so advanced by then that it could
excavate landfill sites (almost) without human intervention and separate the contents. The materials for newly built machines would also have to become correspondingly cheaper, as would their automated production.
That leaves 'only' the transportation problems, which will presumably be solved if humanity continues to exist. But even here, there are interesting possibilities for change. First, we need to ask the question: what exactly is
in space? Wikipedia answers: '... besides stars and dust clouds, there is also hydrogen gas, among other things.' Is it possible that there is no CO2 in it?
It's hard to believe, but all the CO2 ever produced and not converted back through photosynthesis is still there. It has spread incredibly widely, but, given the appropriate technology and almost unlimited
energy, it could be completely converted back into the form it was in, for example, after its fossil extraction. Of course, only if it were needed in that form. Perhaps then some of global warming could even be reversed.
A naive thought, of course, because the consequences have long since spread across the globe, including the melting of the polar ice caps and the northward movement of the deserts. And what does all this tell us? Quite
simply: We should strive to achieve 100 percent electrical energy supply as quickly as possible. And what does all this tell us? Quite simply: We should strive to achieve 100 percent electrical energy supply as quickly as
possible.
Here's a thought already expressed several times: Electric cars are actually coming too soon, because battery storage reduces their efficiency by at least 20 percent compared to direct consumption. But they will come on a
broad front, no question. And the entropy is constantly increasing; now you can perhaps guess why.
| 
