McIntosh's Law of Thermodynamics by Derek Potter Creationists
often say that evolution is contrary to the second law of
thermodynamics (2LT or SLOT) and hence impossible. Such a
statement is liable to be met with uncomprehending stares from
physicists who are not familiar with creationism. As its name
suggests, thermodynamics is about the flow of heat. Why on earth
should a law about heat flow have any bearing on whether
evolution is possible? It turns out that 2LT refers to a
physical quantity called entropy which is sometimes loosely
described as a measure of the microscopic disorder in a system.
Entropy is also a indicator of the 'mixed-upness' of a system
and indicates thermal energy that is no longer available for
conversion into useful work. Entropy cannot decrease
spontaneously in an isolated ("closed") system. Hence, say
creationists, order cannot arise spontaneously in nature. The
argument goes back at least as far as Henry Morris's The
Remarkable Birth of Planet Earth, 1974, and is hinted at in The