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Can I float an idea on entropy that I read somewhere that seemed to make sense....
There is no 'requirement' or law that says entropy should always increase (move towards less order). It is simply a statistical near-certainty that it will.
Take an example of mixing two gases. If you mix two gases of different temperatures, their temperatures will equilibrate with the entropy rising to a maximum. In principle, there is nothing to stop the gases from spontaneously separating again and resuming their original temperature and decreasing the entropy - it is just incredibly unlikely. The number of possible states where the gases are evenly mixed vastly outweigh (putting it mildly) the states where they are separated, so, in this system it is simply a matter of probabilities. If you sat and waited long enough - you may be lucky enough to observe a spontaneous decrease in the gases entropy - but I wouldn't hold your breath.
Entropy doesn't have to always increase - it just almost always does.
Another thing I often read is that certain groups of people (you know who...) say that life itself violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics as it represents a decrease in entropy - but you can do work on something to decrease its entropy - you just have to expend energy to do it with any degree of predictability. If a living organism ceases to be able to expend energy (ie: it dies) - the 2nd law takes over pretty quickly. We usually bury them before the increasing entropy starts to cause a smell...
Adam
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