>Mike
>
>Interesting. Science suggests that "entropy" prevails with the Universe preferring chaos.
>
>And pedants might insist that "lasting longer" is the definition of stability, not the result of it.
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>Rather than inflicting such JoeBobbery on you, I would postulate that stability is preferable to chaos and requires an effort. Your "universe's preference" represents directed energy to counteract natural entropy.
>
>Regards
>
>JR

Entropy is the measure of disorder in the Universe. The change in Entropy is given by dS = dW/T. The driving force in the Universe is that no matter what the process that is under consideration, be it naturally occuring or "intelligently" assisted by Man, it cannot occur unless there is an INCREASE in the Entropy of the Universe. An increase in order in a system means only that a greater increase in disorder occured in the surroundings, causing the net Entropy of the Universe to increase. The reverse has never been observed and is not possible. If you think otherwise you need only prove it to be awarded a PhD and win the Nobel prize on that basis alone.

The concept in physics that represents "stability" is equilibrium. In the sense that input/output rates have become equal and constant, at a contstant temperature, 'stability' is achieved. This is just a representation of death. Note that equilibrium doesn't mean that the same atoms/molecules remain on one side or the other of an equilibrium. What equilibriaum means is that work cannot be extracted from a system under equilibrium. For a system that is not in equlibrium the more quickly it reaches equilibrium the less is the amount of work that can be extracted. The slower a system achieves equilibrium the more the work that can be extracted from it, up to the Thermodynamically alllowed maximum, given by Eff = (Th-Tl)/Th, where Th = the temp of the heat source, and Th = the temp of the heat sink.

The final equilibrium will be when all objects in the universe reach the same temperature, and work of any sort (w=fd) is impossible. This is often refered to as the 'Heat death of the Universe".

Physics is fun!
JLK