For this reason, the first function of any cell is to prevent the permanent threat of disintegration that is described by thermodynamic laws and to preserve highly ordered cell characteristics such as structures, the cell cycle, or metabolism.  In terms of physics, changes to these normally highly ordered reaction probabilities lead to a state that is irreversibly biologically imbalanced, but that is thermodynamically more stable.  Because a return to the original ordered state is not possible for thermodynamic reasons, the cells either die or else they persist in a metastable state. 
THERM