TY - JOUR
T1 - Life, gravity and the second law of thermodynamics
AU - Lineweaver, Charles H.
AU - Egan, Chas A.
PY - 2008/12
Y1 - 2008/12
N2 - We review the cosmic evolution of entropy and the gravitational origin of the free energy required by life. All dissipative structures in the universe including all forms of life, owe their existence to the fact that the universe started in a low entropy state and has not yet reached equilibrium. The low initial entropy was due to the low gravitational entropy of the nearly homogeneously distributed matter and has, through gravitational collapse, evolved gradients in density, temperature, pressure and chemistry. These gradients, when steep enough, give rise to far from equilibrium dissipative structures (e.g., galaxies, stars, black holes, hurricanes and life) which emerge spontaneously to hasten the destruction of the gradients which spawned them. This represents a paradigm shift from "we eat food" to "food has produced us to eat it".
AB - We review the cosmic evolution of entropy and the gravitational origin of the free energy required by life. All dissipative structures in the universe including all forms of life, owe their existence to the fact that the universe started in a low entropy state and has not yet reached equilibrium. The low initial entropy was due to the low gravitational entropy of the nearly homogeneously distributed matter and has, through gravitational collapse, evolved gradients in density, temperature, pressure and chemistry. These gradients, when steep enough, give rise to far from equilibrium dissipative structures (e.g., galaxies, stars, black holes, hurricanes and life) which emerge spontaneously to hasten the destruction of the gradients which spawned them. This represents a paradigm shift from "we eat food" to "food has produced us to eat it".
KW - Cosmology
KW - Dissipative structures
KW - Entropy
KW - Extraterrestrial life
KW - Free energy
KW - Life
KW - Negentropy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=54049089161&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.plrev.2008.08.002
DO - 10.1016/j.plrev.2008.08.002
M3 - Review article
SN - 1571-0645
VL - 5
SP - 225
EP - 242
JO - Physics of Life Reviews
JF - Physics of Life Reviews
IS - 4
ER -