The amount of entropy in a given organism stays about the same, though I guess you could argue it increases as the organism grows in size. Reason: The organism isn’t mutating over time to become made of increasingly high entropy stuff, nor is it heating up. The entropy has to stay within an upper and lower bound. So over time the organism will increase entropy external to itself, while the internal entropy doesn’t change very much, maybe just fluctuates within the bounds a bit.
It’s probably better to talk about entropy per unit mass, rather than entropy density. Though mass conservation isn’t an exact physical law, it’s approximately true for the kinds to stuff that usually happens on Earth. Whereas volume isn’t even approximately conserved. And in those terms, 1kg of gas should have more entropy than 1kg of condensed matter.
The organism isn’t mutating over time to become made of increasingly high entropy stuff,
I mean, actually it is. Plus accumulation of various kinds of damage, experiences, etc. which makes it differ from other organisms.
nor is it heating up.
Looking it up, apparently people drop very slightly in temperature when they age, which I guess might dominate the entropy considerations (though I guess that is due to slowly dying, so it also seems compatible with entropy being related to life if reduction in life is related to reduction in entropy).
The amount of entropy in a given organism stays about the same, though I guess you could argue it increases as the organism grows in size.
Couldn’t it be reasonable to say that entropy increases as a sign of increased vitality associated with growing up to adulthood, and then afters has a mixture of an infinitesimal increasing effect from life experience and a moderate associated wirh vitality breakdown?
It’s probably better to talk about entropy per unit mass, rather than entropy density. Though mass conservation isn’t an exact physical law, it’s approximately true for the kinds to stuff that usually happens on Earth. Whereas volume isn’t even approximately conserved. And in those terms, 1kg of gas should have more entropy than 1kg of condensed matter.
But if we go by unit mass, shouldn’t we count both the entropy in the air and the entropy in the organic matter, since they’re both related to the original mass that goes into life, meaning therefore life still increases entropy?
The amount of entropy in a given organism stays about the same, though I guess you could argue it increases as the organism grows in size. Reason: The organism isn’t mutating over time to become made of increasingly high entropy stuff, nor is it heating up. The entropy has to stay within an upper and lower bound. So over time the organism will increase entropy external to itself, while the internal entropy doesn’t change very much, maybe just fluctuates within the bounds a bit.
It’s probably better to talk about entropy per unit mass, rather than entropy density. Though mass conservation isn’t an exact physical law, it’s approximately true for the kinds to stuff that usually happens on Earth. Whereas volume isn’t even approximately conserved. And in those terms, 1kg of gas should have more entropy than 1kg of condensed matter.
I mean, actually it is. Plus accumulation of various kinds of damage, experiences, etc. which makes it differ from other organisms.
Looking it up, apparently people drop very slightly in temperature when they age, which I guess might dominate the entropy considerations (though I guess that is due to slowly dying, so it also seems compatible with entropy being related to life if reduction in life is related to reduction in entropy).
Couldn’t it be reasonable to say that entropy increases as a sign of increased vitality associated with growing up to adulthood, and then afters has a mixture of an infinitesimal increasing effect from life experience and a moderate associated wirh vitality breakdown?
But if we go by unit mass, shouldn’t we count both the entropy in the air and the entropy in the organic matter, since they’re both related to the original mass that goes into life, meaning therefore life still increases entropy?
I think the correct unit is “per particle” or “per mole”.
Of atoms or of molecules?
If we go there, I guess the best unit is “per degree of freedom”.