[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-43488-en":3,"doc-seo-43488-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},43488,1099514068365,"Aurelia","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/10000253d8d9f28188e?_k=1776742907772140068",8,"Research & Report","The Second Law and Entropy Misconceptions Demystified","The paper addresses misconceptions and alleged hypothetical violations of the Second Law of thermodynamics that have appeared across scientific, philosophical, and social publications. It argues that non-equilibrium useful work-energy potential is always dissipated into heat, generating thermodynamic entropy at all scales, including in life processes, open systems, micro-fluctuations, gravity, and entanglement. It further claims entropy cannot be destroyed, so overall entropy cannot decrease. All resolved paradoxes and misleading challenges are said to support the Second Law.","entropy   \nEditorial  \nThe Second Law and Entropy Misconceptions Demystified  \nMilivoje M. Kostic  \nDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA; [kostic@niu.edu](kostic@niu.edu)  \nReceived: 1 June 2020; Accepted: 8 June 2020; Published: 11 June 2020  \n􀀁􀀂􀀃􀀁􀀄 􀀆􀀇􀀈  \n􀀁􀀂􀀃􀀄􀀅􀀆􀀇  \nAbstract: The challenges and claims of hypothetical violations of the Second Law of thermodynamics have been a topic of many scientific, philosophical and social publications, even in the most prestigious scientific journals. Fascination with challenging the Second Law has further accelerated throughout the development of statistical and quantum physics, and information theory. It is phenomenologically reasoned here that non-equilibrium, useful work-energy potential is always dissipated to heat, and thus thermodynamic entropy (a measure of thermal disorder, not any other disorder) is generated always and everywhere, at any scale without exception, including life processes, open systems, micro-fluctuations, gravity or entanglement. Furthermore, entropy cannot be destroyed by any means at any scale (entropy is conserved in ideal, reversible processes and irreversibly generated in real processes), and thus, entropy cannot overall decrease, but only overall increase. Creation of ordered structures or live species always dissipate useful energy and generate entropy, without exception, and thus without Second Law violation. Entropy destruction would imply spontaneous increase in non-equilibrium, with mass-energy flux displacement against cause-and-e􀀋ect, natural forces, as well as negate the reversible existence of the very equilibrium. In fact, all resolved challengers' paradoxes and misleading violations of the Second Law to date have been resolved in favor of the Second Law and never against. We are still to witness a single, still open Second Law violation, to be confirmed.  \nKeywords: entropy; Second Law of thermodynamics; Second Law challenges; Second Law misconceptions  \n1. Introduction  \nIn addition to language semantics, there are many perplexing issues related to the very essence of thermodynamics, especially the Second Law fundamentals, its subtle definitions and ambiguous meanings of key concepts, including the nature of heat and entropy [1,2] . The following essentials are vitally critical since they encompass, irrespective of the system and process details, all space and time scales: (1) the “reversible equivalency” implies that if the Second Law can be violated in any unique way, then it would be universally violated, and (2) forcing is directional and “forced directionality”imply irreversibility, i.e., process impossibility in the opposite direction. It is hoped that this treatise will also help demystify some recent challenges of the Second Law of thermodynamics and promote constructive future debates.  \nThe Second Law made its appearance around 1850, and almost a century later, the physicist and philosopher Bridgman [3] still complained that “there are almost as many formulations of the Second Law as there have been discussionsofit.” Even today, the Second Law remains so obscure, duetothe lack of its comprehension, that it continues to attract new e􀀋orts at clarification, including by this author [4–8] . Einstein, whose early writings were related to the Second Law, remained convinced throughout his life that “thermodynamics is the only universal physical theory that will never be refuted”. Namely, the phenomenological laws of thermodynamics have much wider, including philosophical, significance and implication than their simple expressions based on the experimental observations.  \nEntropy 2020, 22, 648; [doi:10.3390](doi:10.3390/e22060648 www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy)[/](doi:10.3390/e22060648 www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy)[e22060648 www.mdpi.com](doi:10.3390/e22060648 www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy)[/](doi:10.3390/e22060648 www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy)[journal](doi:10.3390/e22060648 www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy","cbCairORtTDbcGdk","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairORtTDbcGdk","pdf",238956,1,11,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n# Introduction","[{\"question\":\"What core claim does the paper make about entropy generation?\",\"answer\":\"Non-equilibrium useful work-energy potential is claimed to be always dissipated into heat, thereby generating thermodynamic entropy everywhere and at any scale without exception.\"},{\"question\":\"Can entropy be destroyed according to the paper?\",\"answer\":\"No. The paper states that entropy cannot be destroyed at any scale: it is conserved in ideal reversible processes and irreversibly generated in real processes.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper respond to alleged Second Law violations or paradoxes?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that resolved challenger paradoxes and misleading violations have all been resolved in favor of the Second Law, not against it, while noting that no single confirmed violation has been witnessed yet.\"}]",1783381781,28,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":27},"the-second-law-and-entropy-misconceptions-demystified","",{"@graph":35,"@context":85},[36,53,68],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-second-law-and-entropy-misconceptions-demystified/43488/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-07","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What core claim does the paper make about entropy generation?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"Non-equilibrium useful work-energy potential is claimed to be always dissipated into heat, thereby generating thermodynamic entropy everywhere and at any scale without exception.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"Can entropy be destroyed according to the paper?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"No. The paper states that entropy cannot be destroyed at any scale: it is conserved in ideal reversible processes and irreversibly generated in real processes.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"How does the paper respond to alleged Second Law violations or paradoxes?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"It argues that resolved challenger paradoxes and misleading violations have all been resolved in favor of the Second Law, not against it, while noting that no single confirmed violation has been witnessed 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