ENTROPY:

To the scientist, Matter is simply stored Energy, and there are two rules describing their relationship, or interaction.  The rules are called the Laws of Thermodynamics, and they say this:

1. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.   We can only change its form.  Burn a fossil fuel and get heat, with byproducts like water, Carbon Dioxide, and Nitrous Dioxide.  All of the components are still there; nothing has vanished; but we cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together.  The energy has moved to a lower level, and we have lost some of our ability to extract high-level energy in the normal manner.

As you have noticed, that is happening everywhere.   From our atom-powered sun to the dead tree that lies rotting in the forest, energy is being changed from a concentrated, useful form to a spread-out form.

2.  Hence, the second Law of Thermodynamics, summarized by the word Entropy.  The New York Public Library’s Science Desk Reference says it well: “Entropy is the measure of the relative disorder of a system.  When work is done, the total entropy of the system increases.   This principle applies to all kinds of energy.  Some scientists believe that the energy in the universe will eventually be distributed evenly, creating a condition of universal entropy.”

We laymen might think of the implications of that theory like this: When we order a hot tub, or buy a gas-driven boat, we are consuming, and will continue to use up, the supply of energy that nature has stored for us and our progeny.  If we don’t think along those lines now, our progeny will have to.