EVOLUTION, ENTROPY AND WORK

摘要

The discussion of the thermodynamics of evolution dates back at least to Schrodinger’srn(1945) seminal work, What is Life? which appeared long after an obscure butrngroundbreaking article by Lotka (1922). There has been a great deal of discussion of thernthermodynamics of evolution over recent decades, and yet many issues remainrnunresolved, especially surrounding the question of entropy. The topic of this paper,rninvolves the basic thermodynamic calculation of entropy, and specifically the relationshiprnbetween energy, heat flow, entropy and work. It would appear that in their haste torndevelop a comprehensive theory explaining all of evolution, recent theorists have lostrnsight of the thermodynamic concept of work in their treatment of entropy (Swenson,rn1989/1997). This is particularly ironic, as thermodynamics was originally developed inrnan effort to better understand the interrelationship among energy, heat flow, and work.