The Consistency Between the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the Evolution of Complex Biochemical Systems

Abstract

According to the three laws of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only transformed into a different energy form; entropy, or disorder, of an isolated system is always increasing, thus making many reactions more spontaneous by containing a lower Gibbs Free Energy; and as the temperature approaches absolute zero, the entropy becomes constant and no change occurs. If the entropy of the universe, an isolated system, is supposed to always be increasing, how can evolution occur where these simple molecules join together to create complex molecules, cells, tissues, and organisms if all these seem to be very organized and ordered, thus demonstrating a decrease in disorder, or entropy, in the system? Through the conduction of literature research and various real-life biochemical examples, the explanation of how the cells and other ordered structures were able to be created as well as the analysis of evolution and creation of life will both be able to explain how despite being seemingly unlikely to be created, the life that emerged approximately 3.7 billion years ago not only occurred spontaneously but will continue to grow and evolve. Depending on how one defines the system and its surroundings, different understandings and explanations of this apparent improbable development will be reached and expounded upon in this paper.