Entropy: a macroscopic property of a system that is a measure of the microscopic disorder within the system (thanks Wikipedia)

Entropy, one of the many factors a chemist must always consider during a reaction, is fundamentally a foundation of the universe. It is commonly thought of as the amount of disorder in a system. What is a system? It’s a scientist’s way of breaking down everything that happens in the universe and separating them into individual circumstances so that it is easier to measure obscure quantities such as entropy. When a system is at maximum entropy, or disorder, it is known to be most stable. This can also be thought of as saying “everything in moderation” meaning there should not be an excess of any one thing in one area, but it should be evenly dispersed. A basic example would be ice melting in water-where the coldness of the ice disperses through the water while the water warms up the ice. On a molecular level it can be thought of as the rigidness of the solid ice structure needs to become more chaotic by turning into a more entropically favorable liquid structure. 

Now on a more grand scale of things; the big bang. This is the first notion of entropy in this universe. This event in time was a basic energetic process that needed to increase its entropy, therefore an explosion occurred that spread mass throughout the universe that we know today. To me, it is very cool to think about how processes on a molecular level, such as ice to water, mimics the same fundamental idea on a more grand scale, like the big bang. Our whole existence is based on this strive for chaos that everyone of our cells works so hard for. 

Some of you may have heard of a new concept called “dark matter.” I know it sounds like something out of Star Trek, but it is an idea that there are molecules that are expanding the universe. This theory comes out of entropy. The expansion of the universe is a way to increase the chaos by inserting this dark matter into “empty” space. Now, none of this is known to be a fact, but what I want to let you know is that even the smartest of the smart are using basic ideas that we learn about in high school and expand them into unfathomable concepts that eventually win them a nobel prize. So I leave you today with the idea that we all start in the same place and maybe one day you will think of the next great theory that stems from a very basic concept :)

Keep on causing chaos!