In thermodynamics, the principle of maximum entropy production states that irreversible processes proceed in a direction in which the maximum amount of entropy is produced or that in which entropy production is greatest. [1]
History
The principle is said to trace to the work of American physicist Edwin Jaynes and his attempt to formulate a statistical thermodynamics interpretation of American electrical engineer Claude Shannon’s 1948 theory of information transmission. [2]
Open systems
German biogeochemist Axel Kleidon, a promoter of the theory, defines the principle of maximum entropy production as a theorem which postulates that the steady state of open thermodynamic systems with sufficient degrees of freedom are maintained in a state at which the production of entropy is maximized given the constraints of the system. The papers of French environmental physicist Roderick Dewar are supposedly representative of this perspective. [4]
Acronyms
See also: MaxEnt school
The acronym MEP is frequently used, short for Maximum Entropy Production, when referring to this subject. The term ‘law of maximum entropy production’ is popularized in the 1988 theory of Rod Swenson, who uses the term LMEP. Others use the term MEPP as short for ‘maximum entropy production principle’. [3]
Difficulties on theory
The concept of maximum entropy production as a guiding rule in the universe or in biology is generally considered as a fringe subject, generally considered to have little validity; but nevertheless is a subject that people write articles on in attempts to theorize further on it. Most, however, consider the so-called ‘principle’ generally invalid for chemistry, and hence for biology, in on the premise that rates of reactions are governed by activation energy and Gibbs free energy, not by the rate of entropy production. [1] A general rule-of-thumb, concerning so-called principles or theories of thermodynamics is that any such conception that bases its premise or has connection to the work of Claude Shannon is invalid and not a thermodynamic subject. [5]
References
1. Ross, John. (2008). Thermodynamics and Fluctuations Far From Equilibrium (12.5: Invalidity of the ‘Principle of Maximum Entropy Production’, pgs. 119-). Springer.
2. Dewar, Roderick. (2005). “Maximum Entropy Production and Non-equilibrium Statistical Mechanics”; in: Non-equilibirum Thermodynamics and the Production of Entropy: Life, Earth, and Beyond (pgs. 41-56), by Axel Kleidon and Ralph Lorenz, Springer.
3. Martyushev, L.M. and Seleznev, V.D. (2006). “Maximum Entropy Production Principle in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology” (abstract). Physics Reports, 426: 1-45.
4. Special Issue: What is Maximum Entropy Production and How Should We Apply It? – Entropy Journal (2009).
5. Thims, Libb. (2012). “Thermodynamics ≠ Information Theory: Science’s Greatest Sokal Affair” (url), Journal of Human Thermodynamics, 8(1): 1-120, Dec 19.
External links
● Maximum entropy (disambiguation) – Wikipedia.
● Principle of maximum entropy – Wikipedia.
● Law of maximum entropy production – Wikipedia.
