Dissipative structures

Definition

Dissipative structures are ordered systems that arise in non-equilibrium thermodynamics, where a steady flow of energy or matter maintains their organization despite the tendency towards disorder. These structures demonstrate how systems can self-organize and maintain stability while dissipating energy, highlighting the intricate relationship between entropy and order in complex systems.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Dissipative structures require a continuous influx of energy to maintain their order, which distinguishes them from structures in equilibrium that do not need external energy input.
2. Examples of dissipative structures include hurricanes, chemical reactions like the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, and living organisms, which all showcase complex organization arising from non-equilibrium conditions.
3. These structures illustrate how local decreases in entropy can occur at the expense of increased entropy elsewhere, adhering to the second law of thermodynamics overall.
4. Dissipative structures are critical for understanding phenomena in various fields, including biology, chemistry, and physics, as they provide insights into how complexity emerges from simplicity.
5. The concept challenges traditional views on thermodynamic processes by showing that systems can evolve towards higher levels of organization instead of merely degrading into chaos.

Review Questions

• How do dissipative structures challenge the traditional views of entropy and disorder in thermodynamics?
  • Dissipative structures challenge traditional views by demonstrating that systems can maintain or even increase their order locally while dissipating energy and producing entropy elsewhere. This is contrary to the expectation that all systems should move towards greater disorder. By showing that self-organization can occur in non-equilibrium states, they provide a nuanced understanding of how entropy operates in complex systems, highlighting that local decreases in entropy can occur alongside global increases.
• Analyze the role of energy flow in the formation and maintenance of dissipative structures.
  • Energy flow is crucial for the formation and maintenance of dissipative structures because these systems rely on continuous input to sustain their organization. Without ongoing energy input, such as heat or chemical reactants, these structures would break down into less organized states. The constant energy flow helps maintain a gradient that facilitates self-organization, allowing complex patterns and behaviors to emerge while ensuring that the overall entropy still increases in the surrounding environment.
• Evaluate the implications of dissipative structures for understanding complex biological systems and their evolution.
  • Dissipative structures provide valuable insights into complex biological systems by illustrating how order and complexity can arise from non-equilibrium conditions. This framework allows for a better understanding of how living organisms self-organize and adapt through interactions with their environments. It also suggests that evolutionary processes may be influenced by these principles, where organisms develop intricate structures and functions not just through genetic variation but also as responses to energetic flows and environmental dynamics, highlighting an interplay between chaos and order in evolution.

Related terms

Non-equilibrium thermodynamics: A branch of thermodynamics that deals with systems not in thermal equilibrium, focusing on processes involving the flow of energy and matter.

Entropy:

A measure of the disorder or randomness in a system, often associated with the second law of thermodynamics, indicating that entropy tends to increase over time in isolated systems.

Self-organization: The process by which a system spontaneously increases its order and complexity without external guidance, often leading to the emergence of dissipative structures.