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ekim's picture

on energy and waterwheels.

Submitted by ekim on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 1:04pm.

today's class started out okay, until it got to the waterwheel...i was a bit confused with the idea of the waterwheel's movement causing more probability, while the moving nailed pail caused more improbability. the moving waterwheel and the moving pail are both using kinetic energy, so shouldn't they both be moving toward one or the other (probability or improbability)?

and the 2nd law of thermodynamics said that change occurs from the less probable to the more probable, but also says that entropy increases. correct me if i am mistaken, but isn't increasing entropy increasing disorder-ness, therefore increasing improbability, not increasing probability? so then shouldn't the kinetic energy of the moving waterwheel and pail yield for more improbability?

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