The story of entropy is fascinating when you look at how it plays out both in the cosmos and here on Earth. Essentially, the sun is converting low-entropy matter into high-entropy heat and radiation. This means the overall level of disorder, or entropy, is always increasing.
Even though gravitational forces cause diffuse gases to collapse and create the sun, the resulting heat and radiation from this process increase overall entropy. This principle aligns with the second law of thermodynamics, which states that entropy tends to increase over time.
On Earth, we see similar principles at work. Various chemicals and elements naturally combine to form larger, more complex molecules. These processes are similar to those occurring in living organisms, where order increases within the system, but the surrounding entropy also rises. When molecular systems become more ordered, higher entropy is shifted elsewhere to maintain balance.
Take the example of crystals. Crystals form on their own and go from a high-entropy state to a low-entropy state. During this process, they give off heat, which increases the overall entropy of their surroundings. Conversely, when crystals melt, they absorb heat, which decreases the environment’s entropy but increases the entropy of the molecules themselves by making them more disordered. They transition from a solid to a liquid state, illustrating how entropy and order create a never-ending dance.
