Two young men were watching the snow fall. Each was viewing it from his own unique perspective. The first young man was religious and pious. To him, the snow kindled the miraculous presence of God. To the second who was a research scientist, it was the display of thermodynamics. God watched them and decided they needed to interact. Suddenly the tables in the cafe were all taken and the two chosen young men had to share a table.
Man 1: Is someone joining you?
Man 2: (Looking up from his laptop) Eh? No! Please…
Man 1: (Settling his coffee mug on the table) Thank you! I love to watch the snow fall.
Man 2: (Smiling broadly) So do I…
Man 1: Makes us see the miracle of creation right? Makes us feel the presence of God!
Man 2: (His face becoming contemplative) Actually, it makes me understand thermodynamics better.
Man 1: But heat always flows from the hot place to the cold place. So snowflakes cannot really ‘happen’ right? The appearance of snow is miraculous as it increases order decreasing entropy.
Man 2: (With a smile) Are you really aware of what you are talking or is it just something you have heard? Do you even know what entropy is?
Man 1: It means that the world by nature is moving from order to disorder. When you drop a sugar cube into coffee, the sugar gets distributed throughout the coffee. Entropy is why the sugar never comes out of the solution and reforms itself into a cube again.
Man 2: So far you are right. But your implication is not!
Man 1: What do you mean? Of course the interpretation is also right. A snowflake contains more order than the vapor and droplets from which it forms. So naturally it cannot be explained scientifically. Every snowflake is the special creation of God! It is God’s handiwork!
Man 2: Wow! I really appreciate your faith but I do need to clarify some things to you. Suppose you had two coins what will be the probability of getting at least one head from them when you toss them?
Man 1: Well, the results could be HH, HT, TH, TT. So, three out of four times I will get at least one Head.
Man 2: Good! So if you had a shoe box with 100 coins and shake them vigorously, when you open the lid will all the coins be heads?
Man 1: Probably not. It could be, that is it is not impossible, but more probably it won’t be.
Man 2: In which case what are the odds that the state you produced, the exact same arrangement of how each of those 100 coins are when you shook the shoe box, would actually occur?
The first young man remained silent for a long time trying to grasp the question posed to him. It finally dawned on him, if getting a hundred heads has a probability of 1:2^100, getting this very same formation of certain specific coins showing heads and others tails equally had the same odds of 1:2^100. Slowly he looked up at his new friend,
Man 1: You are right. Whatever the state, it is a miracle. That is why I said life is a miracle created by God.
Man 2: I haven’t finished yet! All I was trying to say with the shoe box example was to say that there is order all around you which actually obeys the laws of thermodynamics.
The first man however continued to hold his idea of the miraculous not even attempting to understand how the universe is actually orderly. God turned to Science and said:
God: Can you find an easier way to explain this to mankind?
Science: Yes Father. We can use the same snowflake example.
God: Go ahead.
Science: Everything happens because heat flows. If the Second Law of Thermodynamics really says that snowflakes cannot occur naturally, then the first snowfall disproves the Second Law. Snowflakes obey the Second Law. To see why, they just have to “follow the heat.” Entropy increases every step of the way.
God: Hmmm… Before we proceed shouldn’t man also know about the change in phase from solid and liquid and between liquid and gas?
Science: That can be easily understood Father! When you put a pan of ice over a constant flame, the temperature increases at a constant rate up to 0 degrees C. Then something unexpected happens. The temperature remains at 0 degrees despite the fact that heat is still being added. That is because it takes heat to melt ice. Ice at 0 degrees turns into water at 0 degrees. The 0-degree water has absorbed heat from the 0-degree ice, and now has more kinetic energy. The temperature of the ice and water in the pan will remain at 0 degrees until all the ice melts.
God: And similarly when water is converted to vapor heat will be added without changing the temperature.
Science: Yes Father! The temperature of the water will increase at a constant rate as more heat is added. But when the temperature reaches 100 degrees C, it levels off again. The 100-degree water turns into 100 degree steam. Again, it takes heat to cause this change of phase. Only when all the water boils away, the temperature of the steam increases as more heat is added.
God: That is, even though energy is added to the ice, the temperature will not raise after zero degrees instead the ice gets transformed into water. Similarly, even though heat is added when water is boiling at 100 degrees C, the temperature of the water doesn’t increase instead it becomes steam.
Science: Exactly! So, if men learn to follow the heat flow, he will see why snowflakes form. Entropy increases every step of the way.
Science looked at the two young men and gently began to guide the second man’s thoughts.
Man 2: Do you know how water vaporizes?
Man 1: The Sun is much, much hotter than the ocean. Therefore, heat flows from the Sun into the ocean because temperature difference causes heat to flow.
Man 2: As this happens, entropy increases because the heat is more evenly distributed between the Sun and the ocean. Some of the water molecules near the surface of the ocean absorb enough heat to change phase. Those molecules turn into warm water vapor, cooling the sea and warming the air. Entropy increases as heat flows from the warm water to the colder air. Then what happens?
Man 1: Wind blows the water vapor high into the atmosphere, where heat flows from the warm water vapor into the cold surrounding air. As it does this, the water vapor condenses to water droplets giving up even more heat. If the surrounding air is cold enough, the water droplets will give up still more heat by changing from the liquid phase to solid phase (i.e., snow).
Man 2: Correct! Heat has flowed from the warm surface of the sea high up into the cold atmosphere, increasing the entropy by more evenly distributing the heat.The air in the upper atmosphere radiates the heat (which it acquired from the water vapor as it condensed and froze) into space, which is even colder than the atmosphere. Heat is now more evenly distributed between the upper atmosphere and space, increasing entropy.
Man 1: (Thoughtfully) When the snowflakes fall on warm ground, heat will flow from the ground into the snow, causing it to melt.
Man 2: Exactly! Entropy of the ground and the (melted) snow increases as heat flows to the cold snow from the warm earth. Every step in the snowflake life-cycle obeys the laws of thermodynamics. Heat is neither created nor destroyed. Heat flows from a hot place to a cold place. Heat becomes less well organized because it is more evenly distributed throughout the universe as cool places warm up, and warm places cool down. Snowflakes don’t violate the laws of thermodynamics. There is nothing miraculous about a snowflake!
Man 1: You are wrong! The very process you described makes it even more miraculous! Random thermal action will break down molecules faster than it will assemble them. It requires carefully controlled energy to get desired result. The snowflake is not the result of random chance. It is the result of very specific information coded into every process. If information can be created by chance, then we could assume we don’t have an intelligent designer. But when information only comes from an intelligent source, it proves the world has been created by an intelligent creator!
Science smiled at the look on God’s face. Chidingly Science asked the Father
Science: You are thrilled to see that his faith has prevailed aren’t you?
God: (Grinning broadly) My dear! My smile is for the second young man. Only a constant source of energy can change the phase from solid to liquid. During that transformation, temperature differences may not be visible but the entire object has undergone a transformation. Similarly, only through constant touch with your source of faith, can the being change phase. It may not be apparent like the temperature differences. But the transformation is nevertheless happening deep within – changing the very core of the being. The purpose of this meeting has been achieved !
Written by Gita Krishna Raj | Published in infinithoughts in March 2012
When Science met God… | Segment Six: Lost in Time | Chapter Four: Just a snowflake
