Activities of Life and the Second Law of Thermo-dynamics

Abstract

WE regret the necessity of prolonging this discussion, but in spite of the letter of Sir James Jeans¹ we persist in the conviction that it is his reasoning, not ours, which is fallacious. We are quite aware that the change of positional entropy associated with the type of process which he cites involves the factor Nk, where k is the Boltzmann constant and N the number of particles concerned in the process, nor do we dispute the correctness of the well-known formulæ which he quotes. We must, however, point out that he is wrong in assuming that the number of ‘particles’ must coincide with the number of molecules. We might ask, why not the number of atoms, or the number of protons and electrons? The answer is, that for a given process of redistribution the particles are those units whose relationship to one another is altered but whose internal structure remains unaffected. In the process of sorting out trucks each truck is to be reckoned as a particle; in the process of steering the Mauretania the ship is a ‘particle.’