Big Bang and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

[pbethala]

I am educated enough to know the Big Bang was not an explosion, but rather an expansion. However, does this not violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics? How can stars, galaxies, and planets develop and lose enthropy if the Second Law says that it should gain enthropy. Also, the universe was shown by Stephen Hawking not standing above time or physical laws. So, how can a Big Bang occur if it violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics?

 

[FunkyDwarf]

I might be wrong here but i thought that the idea that entropy can only increase was when you considered things like quasistatic processes or systems in equilibrium. Once **** starts blowing up all bets are off until it settles down. At least that's what i got out of my statistical mechanics unit :P I mean there are violations on a local scale of that law all the time, entropy decreases in one area (humans) but will be offset somewhere else. Where the balancing part for the big bang would be is a good question.

 

[pbethala]

Forgive me for spelling entropy as "enthropy." I am not exactly fully fluent in English yet.

 

[Chris Hillman]

Hi, pbethala,

• You can probably use the "Edit this post" button to correct the spelling of the word "entropy" in your Post #1, at least for a limited time (a day or so).
• In another very recent post I addressed exactly the same misconception about "entropy of the universe". You might poke around and see if you can find it.