Recent comments in /f/askscience

Chemomechanics t1_jcs2i57 wrote

Reply to We're often taught that objects travel to lower energy states to reach stability. But the energy of the universe is constant - doesn't that just mean other surrounding things go to higher energy states? What decides which thing gets to have low energy? by SMM-123Sam

Energy minimization is a consequence of entropy maximization, as I derive here.

Broadly, when things fall into a lower energy minimum, they heat the rest of the Universe, which increases its entropy. Nature loves this.

> What decides which thing gets to have low energy?

The configuration with higher entropy. It has more ways to appear, so we see it more often. That’s the Second Law, in essence.

At equilibrium, there’s no difference in any intensive parameter: temperature, pressure, stress, chemical potential, surface tension, electric field, you name it.

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