Ideas regarding gravity and entropy

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Jstoff
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TL;DR Summary
Ideas regarding gravity and entropy
I've never had any physics class before so please bare with me on my lack of understanding.

I've been thinking about gravity and its relation to entropy lately and was wondering if my thinking is correct.

Entropy seems to be an opposing force to gravity. where gravity is creating gradients that can be exploited for mechanical work, entropy seems to try to dissolve them. Are gravitation wells not "localized" spots of low entropy? I hear entropy explained with examples like " You wouldn't expect all of the air in room to be on one side of it, because that's statistically unlikely" which at a glance makes sense but even in an "0 g" environment are the air molecules not "statistically weighted" towards the side of the room with the strongest gravitational pull? Seeing that gravity has unlimited range this means there would always be some type of gradient of pressure no matter how small.

Every example of low entropy systems i can think of are a result of a gravitational pull. Is this correct or am i misunderstanding things?
 
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  • #3
Jstoff said:
TL;DR Summary: Ideas regarding gravity and entropy

I've never had any physics class before so please bare with me ...
"Bear with me" is the expression you are looking for. "Bare with me" is a suggestion that we all take off our clothes together.
 
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  • #5
Jstoff said:
TL;DR Summary: Ideas regarding gravity and entropy

I've never had any physics class before so please bare with me on my lack of understanding.

I've been thinking about gravity and its relation to entropy lately and was wondering if my thinking is correct.

Entropy seems to be an opposing force to gravity. where gravity is creating gradients that can be exploited for mechanical work, entropy seems to try to dissolve them. Are gravitation wells not "localized" spots of low entropy? I hear entropy explained with examples like " You wouldn't expect all of the air in room to be on one side of it, because that's statistically unlikely" which at a glance makes sense but even in an "0 g" environment are the air molecules not "statistically weighted" towards the side of the room with the strongest gravitational pull? Seeing that gravity has unlimited range this means there would always be some type of gradient of pressure no matter how small.
You don't need to have gravity for the pressure in a system to vary spatially, such as by having all the gas in half the room.
However, it us useful to think of entropy generation as related to smoothing out of velocity-, temperature-, and concentration gradients.
 

FAQ: Ideas regarding gravity and entropy

What is the relationship between gravity and entropy?

Gravity and entropy are interconnected through the laws of thermodynamics and general relativity. In a gravitational system, entropy tends to increase as matter clumps together due to gravitational attraction, leading to more disorder at a microscopic level. Black holes are a prime example, where the entropy is proportional to the surface area of their event horizon, suggesting a deep link between gravity and thermodynamic principles.

How does gravity affect the entropy of a system?

Gravity affects the entropy of a system by influencing the distribution and state of matter. In a gravitational collapse, such as the formation of stars or black holes, matter becomes more concentrated, leading to an increase in entropy. This is because the microscopic states of the system become more numerous and disordered as gravitational potential energy is converted into other forms of energy, like heat.

Can entropy decrease in a gravitational system?

While the second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isolated system can never decrease, local decreases in entropy can occur in gravitational systems as long as they are offset by greater increases elsewhere. For example, the formation of stars from a gas cloud involves a local decrease in entropy as the gas becomes more ordered, but the overall entropy of the universe still increases due to the energy released in the process.

What is the role of black holes in the study of gravity and entropy?

Black holes play a crucial role in the study of gravity and entropy because they embody the principles of both general relativity and thermodynamics. The entropy of a black hole is proportional to the area of its event horizon, not its volume, leading to the formulation of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. This relationship has profound implications for understanding the nature of information, entropy, and the fundamental laws of physics.

How do gravitational waves relate to entropy?

Gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime caused by accelerating masses, carry energy away from their sources, which can affect the entropy of the system. The emission of gravitational waves during events like black hole mergers involves the conversion of gravitational energy into wave energy, which disperses into the universe and contributes to the overall increase in entropy. This process helps distribute energy more evenly across the cosmos, aligning with the second law of thermodynamics.

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