Author(s)

Isaac C. Sanchez

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Using a careful thermodynamic analysis of unfertilized and fertilized eggs as a paradigm, it is argued that neither classical nor statistical thermodynamics is able to adequately describe living systems. To rescue thermodynamics from this dilemma, the definition of entropy for a living system must expand to acknowedge the latent genetic information encoded in DNA and RNA.As a working supposition, it is proposed that gradual unfolding (expression) of genetic information contributes a negative entropy flow into a living organism that alleviates apparent thermodynamic inconsistencies. It is estimated that each coding codon in DNA intrinsically carries about -3k in negative entropy. Even prior to the discovery of DNA and the genetic code, negative entropy flow in living systems was first proposed by Erwin Schrödinger in 1944.

Negative Entropy, DNA, Genetic Code, Codon, Second Law of Thermodynamics

I. Sanchez, "Entropy of Living versus Non-Living Systems," Journal of Modern Physics, Vol. 2 No. 7, 2011, pp. 654-657. doi: 10.4236/jmp.2011.27077.