The Most Misunderstood Concept in Physics

One of the most important, yet least understood, concepts in all physics. Head to https://brilliant.org/veritasium to start your free 30-day trial, and the first 200 people get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

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A huge thank you to those who helped us understand different aspects of this complicated topic - Dr. Ashmeet Singh, Supriya Krishnamurthy, Dr. Jos Thijssen, Dr. Bijoy Bera, Dr. Timon Idema, Álvaro Bermejillo Seco and Dr. Misha Titov.

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References:
Carnot, S. (1824). Reflections on the motive power of heat: and on machines fitted to develop that power. - https://ve42.co/Carnot1890

Harnessing The True Power Of Atoms | Order And Disorder Documentaries, Spark via YouTube - https://ve42.co/OrderDisorder

A better description of entropy, Steve Mould via YouTube - https://ve42.co/Mould2016

Dugdale, J. S. (1996). Entropy and its physical meaning. CRC Press. - https://ve42.co/Dugdale1996

Schroeder, D. V. (1999). An introduction to thermal physics. - https://ve42.co/Schroeder2021

Fowler, M. Heat Engines: the Carnot Cycle, University of Virginia. - https://ve42.co/Fowler2023

Chandler, D.L. (2010). Explained: The Carnot Limit, MIT News - https://ve42.co/Chandler2010

Entropy, Wikipedia - https://ve42.co/EntropyWiki

Clausius, R. (1867). The mechanical theory of heat. Van Voorst. - https://ve42.co/Clausius1867

What is entropy? TED-Ed via YouTube - https://ve42.co/Phillips2017

Thijssen, J. (2018) Lecture Notes Statistical Physics, TU Delft.

Schneider, E. D., & Kay, J. J. (1994). Life as a manifestation of the second law of thermodynamics. Mathematical and computer modelling, 19(6-8), 25-48. - https://ve42.co/Schneider1994

Lineweaver, C. H., & Egan, C. A. (2008). Life, gravity and the second law of thermodynamics. Physics of Life Reviews, 5(4), 225-242. - https://ve42.co/Lineweaver2008

Michaelian, K. (2012). HESS Opinions" Biological catalysis of the hydrological cycle: life's thermodynamic function". Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 16(8), 2629-2645. - https://ve42.co/Michaelian2012

England, J. L. (2013). Statistical physics of self-replication. The Journal of chemical physics, 139(12), 09B623_1. - https://ve42.co/England2013

England, J. L. (2015). Dissipative adaptation in driven self-assembly. Nature nanotechnology, 10(11), 919-923. - https://ve42.co/England2015

Wolchover, N. (2014). A New Physics Theory of Life, Quantamagazine - https://ve42.co/Wolchover2014

Lineweaver, C. H. (2013). The entropy of the universe and the maximum entropy production principle. In Beyond the Second Law: Entropy Production and Non-equilibrium Systems (pp. 415-427). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - https://ve42.co/LineweaverEntropy

Bekenstein, J.D. (1972). Black holes and the second law. Lett. Nuovo Cimento 4, 737–740. - https://ve42.co/Bekenstein1972

Carroll, S.M. (2022). The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion. Penguin Publishing Group. - https://ve42.co/Carroll2022

Black hole thermodynamics, Wikipedia - https://ve42.co/BlackHoleTD

Cosmology and the arrow of time: Sean Carroll at TEDxCaltech, TEDx Talks via YouTube - https://ve42.co/CarrollTEDx

Carroll, S. M. (2008). The cosmic origins of time’s arrow. Scientific American, 298(6), 48-57. - https://ve42.co/Carroll2008

The Passage of Time and the Meaning of Life | Sean Carroll (Talk + Q&A), Long Now Foundation via YouTube - https://ve42.co/CarrollLNF

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Written by Casper Mebius, Derek Muller & Petr Lebedev
Edited by Trenton Oliver & Jamie MacLeod
Animated by Mike Radjabov, Ivy Tello, Fabio Albertelli and Jakub Misiek
Filmed by Derek Muller, Albert Leung & Raquel Nuno
Molecular collisions video by CSIRO's Data61 via YouTube: Simulation of air
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Pond5 and by courtesy of NASA, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Goddard Flight Lab/ CI Lab, NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, HMI, and WMAP science teams. As well as the Advanced Visualization Laboratory at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, B. Robertson, L. Hernquist
Music from Epidemic Sound & Jonny Hyman
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, Emily Zhang, & Casper Mebius