Abstract

A tremendous amount of confusion surrounds the physical understanding of entropy. How can an inequality (the Second Law) be derived from equalities (Maxwell's Equations)? The resolution comes from realizing that electrodynamics, in particular div B = 0, demands that matter (charge) flows in closed loops or circuits. Therefore particles themselves must be composed of tiny circuits of flowing charge. Now ultimately all energy is "interaction" between elements of matter, however the vast majority of physical energy stems from interactions between elements within the same circulating particle. This "self energy" exists independent of other particles, and has several names, such as "inertial energy" or "zero point energy" (ZPE). Any system of particles also contains interactions between particles, and the question now becomes, "How much of the total energy represents interactions between particles and how much the self energy within or of the particles?" We already have a quantity that has unknowingly answered this important question for us: entropy. Entropy is thus defined as the amount of interaction (or energy) between components of a system divided by the total interactions (energy) of the system. Boltzmann's constant is merely a scaling factor for physical systems, denoting the maximum that a particle can be "entangled" with its environment. This simple, but powerful definition applies to any system composed of discreet units, and explains why entropy is a fundamentally quantum concept. It is meaningless without discreet units of something. The Second Law can now be understood as either as an increase in interaction energy (between particles) or a decrease in self energies (of particles). Radiating particles generally (but not always) expand, and thus lose self energy and obey the Second Law. However, under specific resonant conditions particles can contract, and thus gain self energy and defy the Second Law. Since discreet units (particles, molecules, or planets) can build higher-level discreet units (atoms, organisms, or solar systems), the measure of entropy also depends on the level or scale at which you examine a system. Since all energy is ultimately interaction energy, at the level of the infinitessimal the Universe in a certain sense has constant entropy. Stated another way, the Universe is now and always has been in a state of perfect equilibrium.