We still do not understand why time goes only forward

Date:

2018-03-21 18:00:11

Views:

3660

Rating:

1Like 0Dislike

Share:

We still do not understand why time goes only forward Source:

Every passing moment brings us from the past through the present into the future, and there's no way back: the time always flows in one direction. It is not in place and does not go in reverse; arrow of time always points forward for us. But if we look at the laws of physics — from Newton to Einstein, from Maxwell to Bohr, Dirac to Feynman, they will appear symmetric with respect to time. In other words, the equations that govern reality do not take into consideration which way time goes. Solutions that describe the behavior of any system and obey the laws of physics will be equally good for time backward and time forward. But we, for some reason, know only one direction of time: forward. Where does this arrow of time?

Many people believe that may be a connection between the arrow of time and the amount of entropy. Although most people usually mean by the entropy of "disorder", this is a very lazy description, and not very accurate. Entropy — this is a measure of how much thermal (heat) energy can be converted into useful mechanical work. If you have a lot of energy that could potentially work, you have a system with low entropy, and if the energy is small, the entropy of the system is large. The second law of thermodynamics States that the entropy of a closed system can only increase or remain level over time; it will never decrease. In other words, over time the entropy of the Universe must increase. This is the only law of physics which prefers a particular direction of time.

Does this Mean that we are experiencing time as it is, only because of the second law of thermodynamics? That there is a fundamental deep connection between the arrow of time and entropy. Some physicists believe that Yes, this could definitely be possible. Perhaps the direction of the arrow of time is directly tied to entropy.

In some cases, the entropy of the perfectly describes the arrow of time, for example, why coffee and milk can be mixed up, but not "blend" back; why ice melting in a warm drink, but does not occur in the cold; why is it broken in the pan the eggs are never going back to presbytie and raw. In all these cases, the initial state of low entropy (with a large number of available, able to work of energy) passed in a state of high entropy (and low available energy) over time. There are many examples of this nature, including a room filled with molecules: on one side a lot of cold and slow molecules on the other many hot and fast. Give yourself time and room will be completely filled with the mixed particles that cannot be divided into two opposing camps. Entropy is increasing. Chaos reigns.

However, perhaps not all that irreversible. Is a pitfall, which you don't notice many people, learning about the second law of thermodynamics and increasing entropy: it applies only to the entropy of a closed system, or systems, at which nothing acts from without, but the entropy is not decreasing and is not added. This idea was first tried to reveal the physicist James Clerk Maxwell in the 1870-ies: it is enough to have an outside entity that opens the gate between the two sides of the room, allowing the “cold” molecules to flow in one direction, and “hot” in another. This thought has become known as "Maxwell's demon", and it actually reduces the entropy of the system.

Of Course, you don't violate the second law of thermodynamics in this way. The catch is that the demon will spend an enormous amount of energy on its work to separate the particles. This system, which is in the power of the demon, will be open; if you include the entropy of the demon in the General system of particles, you will find that the total entropy increases. But here's the trick: even if you lived in a box and did not know about the existence of the demon — in other words, if you lived in this pocket Universe in which entropy decreases — you still would go forward. The thermodynamic arrow of time does not determine the direction in which for us takes time.

So where does the relationship of the direction of time and our perception? We don't know. But we know how this thermodynamic arrow of time is not. Our measurements of the entropy of the Universe only know of one huge decrease in the entire history of the cosmos: the end of cosmic inflation and the transition to the Big Bang. (And even this can present a huge increase in entropy, the transition from an inflationary state to the next, filled with matter and radiation). We know that our universe will meet up with cold and empty fate after burn out all the stars will break up all the black holes and dark energy is unrelated'm gonna push them galaxy together. The thermodynamic condition of maximum entropy known as the "heat death" of the Universe. And oddly enough, the state from which our universe emerged — cosmic inflation — has exactly the same properties, only with a much larger rate of expansion than it is now.

Over inflation? As the vacuum energy of the Universe, the energy inherent to empty space, turned into a hot soup of particles, antiparticles and radiation? And if the universe moved from a state of extremely high entropy during cosmic inflation into a state of low entropy during the Big Bang, or entropy during inflation was even lower due to the potential ability of the Universe to perform mechanical work? So far we only have theories; experimental or observational signs that would help us to answer these questions while is not found.

We understand the arrow of time from a thermodynamic point of view, which is incredibly valuable and interesting part of knowledge. But if you want to know why yesterday is unchanged the past, tomorrow is the day, and the present is a moment that you're living now, thermodynamics will not give you the answer. No one will.

...

Recommended

What will be the shelter for the first Martian colonists?

What will be the shelter for the first Martian colonists?

Mars is not the friendliest planet for humans While the Red Planet is roaming rovers, researchers are pondering the construction of shelters and materials needed by future Martian colonists. The authors of the new paper suggest that we could use one ...

New proof of string theory discovered

New proof of string theory discovered

Just a few years ago, it seemed that string theory was the new theory of everything. But today the string universe raises more questions than answers String theory is designed to combine all our knowledge of the Universe and explain it. When she appe...

What is the four-dimensional space?

What is the four-dimensional space?

Modeling camera motion in four-dimensional space. View the world in different dimensions changes the way we perceive everything around, including time and space. Think about the difference between two dimensions and three dimensions is easy, but what...

Comments (0)

This article has no comment, be the first!

Add comment

Related News

Stephen Hawking, hoped that M-theory will explain the Universe. What is this theory?

Stephen Hawking, hoped that M-theory will explain the Universe. What is this theory?

legend Has it that albert Einstein spent his last hours on Earth, tracing and drawing something on a piece of paper in the last attempt to formulate a theory of everything. 60 years later and another legendary scientist in theoret...

Scientists have created

Scientists have created "the white" material

Which color can be considered to be perfectly white? A starched shirt? Medical gown? Or maybe a sheet of paper from the nearest printer? All this, of course, true, but a group of scientists from Cambridge University have managed t...

This student was... How Einstein became the most popular scientists of the galaxy

This student was... How Einstein became the most popular scientists of the galaxy

At the end of 2017 at the auction in Jerusalem was exposed to a sentence of thirteen words, handwritten in German by albert Einstein. In the city archives of Einstein, which he bequeathed before his death in 1955 the Hebrew Univer...

At the age of 76 years died the physicist Stephen Hawking

At the age of 76 years died the physicist Stephen Hawking

the Famous British theoretical physicist died on 77-m to year of life, according to BBC radio broadcasting organization with reference to the representatives of the family of the scientist. In 1963, the doctors gave Hawking a disa...

At MIT found a way to harness the energy of stars

At MIT found a way to harness the energy of stars

Nuclear energy – the dream of scientists and energy companies may soon become a reality. Of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of technology (MIT) and the Commonwealth Fusion Systems has declared readiness to create a working ...

Dutch scientists have developed a DNA test for the detection of illegal felling of trees

Dutch scientists have developed a DNA test for the detection of illegal felling of trees

DNA Tests is no surprise, however, scientists from Holland have managed to find the application of long-known technique: the new DNA test will be used to benefit the environment, namely to determine how the law was made felling of...

#video | Found a way of 3D printing jewelry from liquid metal

#video | Found a way of 3D printing jewelry from liquid metal

In the distant 90-ies Director James Cameron in the second part of the film «Terminator» presented to the robot from liquid metal T-1000. Then such behavior of the metal (with the exception of mercury and of some experim...

Can artificial photosynthesis be an alternative to solar panels?

Can artificial photosynthesis be an alternative to solar panels?

In 1912, in the journal Science published an article in which Professor Giacomo Ciamician wrote: "Coal is solar energy offers to mankind in its most concentrated form, but the coal is exhausted. Is fossil solar energy the only one...

Svalbard global seed vault, it was decided to improve

Svalbard global seed vault, it was decided to improve

On the island of Spitsbergen, located in the Arctic ocean in 2006 was built a unique structure – the world Bank-selenoprecise. It was decided to store planting material for almost all agricultural plants existing in the world, in ...

In the future we are not going to edit the genome. We will create a new

In the future we are not going to edit the genome. We will create a new

ever since the Sumerians first want to drink beer, and that was thousands of years ago, Homo sapiens had close relationships with Sacharomyces cerevisae, unicellular fungi known as yeast. Due to the fermentation that people can us...

For the first time, scientists want to move the stuff from one place to another

For the first time, scientists want to move the stuff from one place to another

We all seen and read about how the hero of some sci-Fi movie or book flying on a spaceship that uses as fuel the antimatter, and then landed on a hostile planet, pulls out his Blaster, charges of antimatter and... What happens nex...

How to become a fossil?

How to become a fossil?

Every fossil is a small miracle. As noted by bill Bryson in his book "a Short history of almost everything", just one bone in a billion becomes a fossil. In such calculations, all fossilized legacy of the 320 million people living...

Scientists have invented a new way to store data inside DNA

Scientists have invented a new way to store data inside DNA

the Future of technology lies not only in the constant growth of computing power of processors or the transition to quantum computers, but also in the evolution of storage devices. Humanity generates a huge amount of information, ...

Five amazing facts about our ancestors that we have learned from DNA

Five amazing facts about our ancestors that we have learned from DNA

Not so long ago scientists used DNA of one of the oldest English skeletons (10,000 years) to find out how it looked the first inhabitants of Britain. However, ancient DNA of the skeleton is taken not for the first time and reveals...

Scientists got the

Scientists got the "impossible" form of ice that can only exist on Uranus

a team of scientists from Lawrence Livermore National laboratory Lawrence had a unique form of ice, called superionic ice (superionic ice). The main feature of this ice is that it consists of a solid crystal lattice of oxygen atom...

Created superdivision, on the strength comparable to metal

Created superdivision, on the strength comparable to metal

Titanium alloys, perhaps, one of the most durable materials on our planet. But they have two very unpleasant drawback: they are very heavy and very expensive. Scientists from the University of Maryland (UMD) have invented an alter...

Graphene could solve five major problems of the world

Graphene could solve five major problems of the world

In September 2015, world leaders gathered at the historic UN summit to adopt the goal of sustainable development (SDG). Seventeen of these ambitious goals and indicators will help guide and coordinate government and international ...

China successfully conducted a unique operation to restore the ears of children

China successfully conducted a unique operation to restore the ears of children

a Group of five children in China got new ears, grown on the basis of a detailed three-dimensional models of healthy organs and using their own healthy cells. This is the first such case in the world of medicine. On the work done ...

What will happen to science in the near future?

What will happen to science in the near future?

If you go back 30 years ago, the world would be completely different. The only known planets were the planets of the Solar system. We had no idea what dark energy is. No space telescopes. Gravitational waves were an unproven theor...

Scientists close to creating artificial life forms

Scientists close to creating artificial life forms

it would Seem that the creation of artificial life – the lot fiction. But development in this area being the first year. And the question now is not about artificial intelligence or robotic mechanisms. A group of American research...