![]() ![]() Your entropy, which is a measure of how statistically likely or unlikely a particular configuration is (most likely = highest entropy very unlikely = low entropy), always rises over time. The laws of thermodynamics basically state that there are a finite number of ways that the particles in your system can be arranged, and the one(s) that have the maximum number of possible configurations - the one(s) in what we call thermodynamic equilibrium - are the ones that all systems will tend towards as time goes forward. Nevertheless, the combination of all these interactions adds up to something important: what we know as the thermodynamic arrow of time. GiphyĪdmittedly, these are complex, macroscopic systems, experiencing an extremely intricate set of interactions. The reverse process, of shards of glass reassembling themselves into a whole, uncracked glass, is so unlikely that it never occurs in practice. dramatically increases the entropy of the system, and is thermodynamically favorable. For these examples, there clearly is a preferred direction to things: an arrow in which things flow.Ī wine glass, when vibrated at the right frequency, will shatter. ![]() If you push a glass off the shelf and watch it shatter against the floor, you'll never see those bits of glass rise up and spontaneously reassemble themselves. If you grab an egg, break it, scramble it, and cook it, that's easy you'll never uncook, unscramble, and un-break an egg, though, no matter how many times you try. Some phenomena clearly display an arrow of time, or a preference for a particular one-way direction. Leaving the weak interactions and this subtle quantum rule aside, the laws of nature really are time-reversal invariant.īut this doesn't appear to be the case for everything we experience. ![]() The only exception is that, if your system is complex enough, you’d have to know things like the precise positions and momenta of your particle to a better accuracy than is quantum mechanically possible. What this means is that, if you wind up at any final state at any moment in time, there's always a way to get back to your initial state if you just apply the right series of interactions in just the right order. However, every single exchange must obey the full suite of quantum rules, and these strong force interaction are time-reversal symmetric. Gluons can not only be exchanged between the individual gluons within a proton or neutron, but in combinations between protons and neutrons, leading to nuclear binding. Individual protons and neutrons may be colorless entities, but the quarks within them are colored. ![]()
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