Thermodynamics Laws and Life Essay Example for Free

Thermodynamics Laws and Life Essay Introduction The universe is governed by the laws of thermodynamics. In other words, it affects the everyday lives of human beings. Every moment   a man exists, performs his daily activities or interacts with objects around him like every time he walks or drives a car or turn on an air conditioner, or use an electrical appliance, he   reap the practical benefits of thermodynamics (Sonntag 223). According to Sonntag in his book Fundamentals of Physics, â€Å"one excellent definition of thermodynamics is that it is the science of energy and entropy†. Another good definition would be that thermodynamics is the science that deals with heat and work and the properties of substance that bear a relation to heat and work†. As I understand it, thermodynamics had something to with anything that involves the use and transfer heat or energy, and the resulting work it produces. This means that without heat or energy then there would be no work to be performed. And when work is absent then there would be no human existence for life is closely tied with activities. Like all sciences, thermodynamics was established based on experimental observation. Out of this experiments evolved the three laws of thermodynamics (Sonntag 16). The Laws of Thermodynamics First law of Thermodynamics The first law of thermodynamics is often called the Law of Conservation of Energy which states that â€Å"energy cannot be created nor destroyed†. Furthermore, this law suggests that since energy cannot be created or destroyed it is merely transferred from one system to another in many forms. In other words, there is an idea of energy conversion like from heat energy to mechanical energy.   Because energy is not created or destroyed, in the universe as a closed system the amount of energy available is constant (there is no addition or subtraction of energy) . Energy is usually introduced into a system and from thereon undergoes energy transformation to perform some functions(Young 534-536) . In relating to life, a good example would be when a man takes in food (introduction of energy to the body through calorie), heat energy in the form of calorie is transform into chemical energy by his cells which in turn is transform into a mechanical energy so that a man is able to perform physical activities like walking, dancing or talking.   Man by his own self cannot create his own energy (he needs to eat to get energy) and that this energy through bodily processes is transform within his body to enable him to perform some bodily functions. What the first law actually is trying to say is that man just cannot get something out of nothing like he just cannot survive without first eating some amount of food; otherwise he will just fell dead. If only man can create his own energy then he does not need to eat. In the same way, the survival of other living things depend on getting energy from outside sources, for example plants need the energy of the sun for photosynthesis. For objects, in order for it to function, like for a plane in order for it to fly it needs the heat of combustion of its fuel to do work in propelling the plane (Young 534). Second law of Thermodynamics While the first law deals with the conservation of energy, the second law tells of the direction of conservation. In other words, how or where energy transformation normally proceeds. The second law settles the question why when you put ice into a hot cup of tea, heat will flow from the hot tea to the cold ice and melt the ice in the beloved beverage illustrating the unalterable reality that heat cannot be transferred from a colder to a hotter body. It is because natural processes that involve energy transfer must have one direction, and all natural processes are irreversible. That is why, man as human being that makes use of many bodily energy conversions can never go back to being an infant but must proceed to old age.   Or that a machine will go from new to old, it depreciates and lowers in value.   In a sense, the second law puts limitations into how heat conversion is achieved in real life. The second law further states that the direction of thermodynamic processes is more towards from an order to a disorder state or entropy. Entropy is the measure of the disorder or randomness of energy and matter in a system, the higher is a disorder the greater is the entropy. That is why in hot and cold bodies the process proceeds from hot to cold because adding heat to a body increases its disorder because â€Å"it increases average molecular speeds and therefore the randomness of molecular motion†(Young 574).   In other aspects, it is clear now why it is easy to mess up than to clean, and that the greater are the things present the messier it is. According to Young in his book University Physics, in a natural   irreversible isolated system (one that does no work on its surroundings) entropy is always increasing, or the degree of disorder increases with time( Young 541 and579) . This can be illustrated by man getting old. Although some scientific researches had created formulas to make man look younger than his age, this only controls the pace of his getting old, but eventually man had to surrender to the irreversible natural process of body deterioration that will lead to old age and ultimately death. As man increased in age, his body weakens, his cells degenerate and eventually he dies. And when a body decays and die it cannot be renewed again and bring back to life but it will rot on the grave . What the second law of thermodynamics is saying is that there are some things that I cannot control from happening for it is a natural process that needs or must occur and when it did occur it is impossible to undo. This reminds me in some sense of where man is heading in life. He always go towards the future and leaves behind a past. What happened in the past he can never undo for he can never go back to the past. That direction will be forever close to him no matter how much energy he is willing to spend to retraced back to that road. Critics in the biological evolution however, claimed that the theory of evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics, since evolution involves simple life forms developing on their own into more complex, more highly ordered organisms. But living things are not closed systems because they can interact with outside sources of energy like the sun and it has been shown â€Å"that energy and/or mass flow through a system can constrain it far from equilibrium, resulting in an increase in order†.   The organizing ‘work† is then primarily carried on by metabolic motor of DNA, enzymes, etc(  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ). Third law of Thermodynamics The third law touches on reaching a state of absolute zero (oK) or to avoid entropy by making temperature equals to zero.   At absolute zero the system has a minimum total internal energy (kinetic plus potential). This can only happen if all energy and matter are randomly distributed in space eradicating all thermal motion( Young 574). This however will never occur unless perhaps in few extraordinary, carefully-engineered situations. The third law of thermodynamics reinforced the fact that in life there are things that are unattainable and accepting this reality is a much better idea than to fight the laws of life. Conclusion The laws of thermodynamics just clearly put into much clearer terms the laws of life. Since thermodynamics is a science that deals with energy and energy transformations as well as the resulting work it produces, it has practical applications in life for life is an active use of energy. First law is a conservation of energy which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed meaning that energy is already in existence and needs only to be applied to a system, example a human system, in various forms to benefit life. The second law states that in a natural process there is a direction from which the conservation follows and this is usually to a more disordered state (entropy). The third law just simply states that if absolute zero is reached then entropy will be zero, but such is an impossible occurrence.       References Isaak, Mark. Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution. The Talk Origins Archive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   October 1, 2003. Retrieved December 3, 2007   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.talkorigins.org/faq/faq-misconceptions.html Sonntag, Richard E. and Claus Borgnakke. Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, 5th ed. New   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1998. Young, Hugh D. and Roger A. Freedman. University Physics, Vol. 1. 9th ed. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1996.

Miracles: When Faith Contradicts Reason :: Essays Papers

Miracles: When Faith Contradicts Reason When the term "miracle" comes to mind, the average person doesn’t quite know what to say. After all, a miracle is something unexplained that is looked upon in awe. Webster’s Universal Dictionary defines a miracle as: . "an extraordinary event attributed to the supernatural; an unusual or astounding event." 1 In today’s society, though, everyone has their own definition of astounding. Perhaps some people contribute certain events to the supernatural while others do not. So in today’s times, Webster’s New World Dictionary provides a clearer meaning of a miracle: . "an event or action that apparently contradicts known scientific laws." 2 In other words, it is a gap between faith and scientific reasoning. In modern medicine, a miracle is described as any occurrence where a higher power, God, for example, takes over and intervenes benevolently in the fate of the patient.3 The doctor, along with everyone else, can only marvel. As a generality, it can be said that miracles are modern examples of the continuing contradiction between faith and reason. When People Lose Hope in Modern Medicine At a certain point during a person’s illness, a doctor will say that there is just no more that can be done. Modern medicine, scientific technology, and healing techniques have done all they can, but tragically, the fate of the person looks grim, and death is rapidly approaching. It is then that people will hope for a miracle. Terri McFaddin, a minister, expresses the feelings of those seriously ill when saying that "We are living in desperate times where people are going to believe in things they can’t see because they can’t trust the things they can see. Miracles happen where natural resources end. One will walk into the realm of miracles when all natural resources have been exhausted." 4 When scientific reasoning and human knowledge have failed people and no cure can be found, that is when people will turn to their faith and hope for a miracle. They grip hope that is beyond reason and logic.5 Praise and worship leader Ron Kenoly says that more people are reali zing that to be helped with the great problems they face, they need to go beyond the limits of reason and the abilities of man.6 Today the largest percentages of Americans in a decade profess the existence of God and miracles, according to a poll commissioned by the Pew Research Center. Miracles: When Faith Contradicts Reason :: Essays Papers Miracles: When Faith Contradicts Reason When the term "miracle" comes to mind, the average person doesn’t quite know what to say. After all, a miracle is something unexplained that is looked upon in awe. Webster’s Universal Dictionary defines a miracle as: . "an extraordinary event attributed to the supernatural; an unusual or astounding event." 1 In today’s society, though, everyone has their own definition of astounding. Perhaps some people contribute certain events to the supernatural while others do not. So in today’s times, Webster’s New World Dictionary provides a clearer meaning of a miracle: . "an event or action that apparently contradicts known scientific laws." 2 In other words, it is a gap between faith and scientific reasoning. In modern medicine, a miracle is described as any occurrence where a higher power, God, for example, takes over and intervenes benevolently in the fate of the patient.3 The doctor, along with everyone else, can only marvel. As a generality, it can be said that miracles are modern examples of the continuing contradiction between faith and reason. When People Lose Hope in Modern Medicine At a certain point during a person’s illness, a doctor will say that there is just no more that can be done. Modern medicine, scientific technology, and healing techniques have done all they can, but tragically, the fate of the person looks grim, and death is rapidly approaching. It is then that people will hope for a miracle. Terri McFaddin, a minister, expresses the feelings of those seriously ill when saying that "We are living in desperate times where people are going to believe in things they can’t see because they can’t trust the things they can see. Miracles happen where natural resources end. One will walk into the realm of miracles when all natural resources have been exhausted." 4 When scientific reasoning and human knowledge have failed people and no cure can be found, that is when people will turn to their faith and hope for a miracle. They grip hope that is beyond reason and logic.5 Praise and worship leader Ron Kenoly says that more people are reali zing that to be helped with the great problems they face, they need to go beyond the limits of reason and the abilities of man.6 Today the largest percentages of Americans in a decade profess the existence of God and miracles, according to a poll commissioned by the Pew Research Center.

Is the American Dream over? Essay

The American Dream is the American ideal of a happy and successful life to which all may aspire. The American Dream is a belief that, in the United States, if a person wants something, they can make it happen. It’s the attitude that no one can hold a person back from their own personal dreams. If someone desires to start a company, and willing to work hard, they can achieve the dream. There is no racism, sexism, or discrimination that can place limits on wealth, stature, appearance or health. Any dream can be made real because of the freedoms we enjoy granted by our constitution and moral standards we as a nation live up to. Immigrants also that come to this nation to escape oppression from their governments around the world or just looking for a better opportunity can live free and run after the American Dream. However, slowly the American dream is becoming more difficult to achieve in our society. Opportunities for success are progressively diminishing because of the rapid expansion of government and its intrusion in our lives. I do not believe the American Dream is dead but it is more difficult to obtain. We may not need a college degree to achieve it but it will make it somewhat easier. The dream starts with individuals taking personal responsibility for their own lives, their own action and their own success. The dream isn’t about getting rich. It is about working hard and intelligently which brings natural rewards. The American dream is liberty and self-government. We the people are free to choose what we want to do with our lives. Originally the American Dream was having freedom of speech and religion. It has evolved into personal prosperity which includes a family, home ownership and dependable transportation. Cal Thomas’s newest column is a controversial argument in the New York Times about the American Dream. Columnist Bob Herbert’s commented on Thomas’ column, â€Å"However you want to define the American dream, there is not much of it that’s left anymore†(Herbert, 568-569). Thomas doesn’t dispute the point, except to argue that the definition of the â€Å"American dream† makes a difference. He agrees that there’s not much left of Herbert’s â€Å"version of the American dream as opposed to the original dream, which remains for those who would embrace it.Herbert’s version of the American Dream is â€Å"liberalism’s American dream,† which has proved unsustainable. Thomas equates the â€Å"liberal† American dream with an entitlement mentality that â€Å"has produced a country of government addicts† devoid of self-reliance, individual initiative and personal accountability. For Thomas, this is a dream in the worst sense of the word. â€Å"People who believe a politician of whatever party or persuasion can make their life better than individual initiative are doing more than dreaming,† he writes, â€Å"such persons are displaying cult-like faith, which can never be fulfilled†(Thomas, 569).

Breast Cancer Essay - 729 Words

Two years ago, my grandmother was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. One year ago, my family and I were informed that she only had a year to live at the most. For months weve sat on the edges of our seats, watching her go through hard times to even more difficult times and wondering what moment would be the last. It was this fall that we realized these past few months would be our last with her. In September 2017, I was cast in my schools fall play The Diviners. After telling my mom who sat there with me when the cast list was posted, I called my grandma to tell her the news. This play was the first show I had ever gotten the chance to be apart of at my high school. I was more shocked and excited than I could possibly contain†¦show more content†¦I’d stand and listen idly by and give them a small smile because I couldnt relate to them. When November 11th came and I made it through the entire show run with her still alive, I thought it was a miracle. Four days later, my dad would pick me up from school to give me the news that she was gone. A week after that, we found out from my grandmothers nurse that my grandmother had lived two weeks longer than she was expected to. The same two weeks that my show was running. Its hard for me to believe that any of this could be a coincidence. Through everything my grandmother has gone through in her entire life; heart attacks, strokes, near kidney failure, and finally breast cancer, its hard for me to believe that anything is a coincidence anymore. She is the strongest person I’ve ever been lucky enough to know and if theres anyone who could beat faith, its her. She held out for me for those two weeks. Maybe she couldnt come see me perform one last time but she was there with me. Her presence was still there with me onstage every night as she held onto life those extra t wo weeks. I dont think Im stronger than the next person who has dealt with the agonizing loss of a family member. 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