Table of contents

1. Introduction to Biology2h 40m
2. Chemistry3h 40m
3. Water1h 26m
4. Biomolecules2h 23m
5. Cell Components2h 26m
6. The Membrane2h 31m
7. Energy and Metabolism2h 0m
8. Respiration2h 40m
9. Photosynthesis2h 49m
10. Cell Signaling59m
11. Cell Division2h 47m
12. Meiosis2h 0m
13. Mendelian Genetics4h 44m
14. DNA Synthesis2h 27m
15. Gene Expression3h 20m
16. Regulation of Expression3h 31m
17. Viruses37m
- Viruses
  37m
18. Biotechnology2h 58m
19. Genomics17m
- Genomes
  17m
20. Development1h 5m
21. Evolution3h 1m
22. Evolution of Populations3h 52m
23. Speciation1h 37m
24. History of Life on Earth2h 6m
25. Phylogeny2h 31m
26. Prokaryotes4h 59m
27. Protists1h 12m
28. Plants1h 22m
29. Fungi36m
- Fungi
  19m
- Fungi Reproduction
  17m
30. Overview of Animals34m
- Overview of Animals
  34m
31. Invertebrates1h 2m
32. Vertebrates50m
33. Plant Anatomy1h 3m
34. Vascular Plant Transport2m
- Water Potential
  2m
35. Soil37m
- Soil and Nutrients
  20m
- Nitrogen Fixation
  16m
36. Plant Reproduction47m
- Flowers
  33m
- Seeds
  14m
37. Plant Sensation and Response1h 9m
38. Animal Form and Function1h 19m
39. Digestive System10m
- Digestion
  3m
- Blood Sugar Homeostasis
  7m
40. Circulatory System1h 57m
41. Immune System1h 12m
42. Osmoregulation and Excretion50m
- Osmoregulation and Excretion
  50m
43. Endocrine System4m
- Endocrine System
  4m
44. Animal Reproduction2m
- Animal Reproduction
  2m
45. Nervous System55m
- Neurons and Action Potentials
  8m
- Central and Peripheral Nervous System
  46m
46. Sensory Systems46m
- Sensory System
  46m
47. Muscle Systems23m
- Musculoskeletal System
  23m
48. Ecology3h 11m
49. Animal Behavior28m
- Animal Behavior
  28m
50. Population Ecology3h 41m
51. Community Ecology2h 46m
52. Ecosystems2h 36m
53. Conservation Biology24m
- Conservation Biology
  24m

7. Energy and Metabolism

Laws of Thermodynamics

General Biology

7. Energy and Metabolism

Laws of Thermodynamics

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Entropy

Jason Amores Sumpter

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Now before we get into the second law of thermodynamics, it's first important to understand the idea behind this term called entropy. And so entropy is defined as a measure of disorder, or in other words, a measure of randomness. And so the greater the disorder is, the higher the entropy will be. And so let's take a look at this image down below right here to get a better understanding of entropy. And so notice over here on the left hand side we have this pool table, and the billiard balls here that you see are very, very highly organized and very, very ordered. However, notice over here on the right hand side, this pool table has, the same billiard balls here that are scattered throughout the entire table. And so they're not very highly ordered. They're not very highly organized. Instead, they're pretty greatly disordered over here. And so because they are more disordered over here, the greater the disorder, the higher the entropy. And so this system over here is going to have higher entropy. And, of course, this system over here that is highly ordered and not very disordered, it's going to have low entropy. And so the lower the entropy, the more organized and the more ordered it is, whereas the higher the entropy, the more disordered it is and the more unorganized it is. Now, the natural tendency of reactions is to move the universe towards a state of maximum entropy or maximum disorder. And so the natural tendency of the universe is for things to go from a state of order towards a state of disorder, a state of higher entropy. This represents the natural tendency of reactions. However, reactions can decrease entropy of a system, essentially going backwards in this direction, with an energy input. And so you can see down below that with an energy input, reactions can become more ordered. And so this is really what life is capable of doing. Living organisms are capable of inputting energy so that they can create order in their systems. But the natural tendency of the universe is to go from a state of low entropy towards a state of higher entropy. And so the reactions are gonna have this tendency to move towards the state of maximum entropy or maximum disorder. And so this is an idea that you would get to learn a lot more about in a chemistry course, but here in our biology course, this concludes our introduction to entropy and we'll be able to, apply entropy in the second law of thermodynamics, which we'll cover in our next video. So I'll see you all there.

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