What is Negentropy?
'''Negentropy''' is reverse [[entropy]]. It means things becoming more in order. Here 'order' means organisation, [[structure]] and [[function]]: the opposite of [[randomness]] or [[chaos]]. One example of negentropy is a star system such as the [[Solar System]]. Another example is [[life]]. As a general rule, everything in the [[universe]] tends towards [[entropy]]. [[Star system]]s eventually become dead. All energy has gone, and everything in the system is ''at the temperature of the surrounding space''. The opposite of entropy is negentropy. It is a [[temporary]] condition in which certain things are hotter and more highly organised than the surrounding space. This is the [[second law of thermodynamics]]: :The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isolated [[system]] always increases over time.<ref>It remains constant in ideal cases where the system is in a steady state or undergoing a reversible process. The increase in entropy accounts for the irreversibility of natural processes, and the [[asymmetry]] between future and past.</ref> [[Life]] is considered to be '''negentropic''' because it converts things which have some order, such as [[food]], into things with more order, such as [[cell]]s in the [[body]], [[tissue (biological)|tissues]], and [[Organ (anatomy)|organs]]. In doing so, it gives off [[heat]], thus increasing entropy. Another example of negentropic things are [[Society|societies]], or social [[Systems theory|systems]], because they take disorderly things such as [[Communication|communications]], and make them more orderly and useful. == Notes == {{reflist}} {{physics-stub}} [[Category:Thermodynamics]] <!-- interwiki -->