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The second law of thermodynamics



If something can be called "logical nightmare" this something undoubtedly
is the second law of thermodynamics. Those who are interested could see
the excellent (in my view) paper by Uffink at

http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00000313/00/engtot.pdf

On the other hand, the second law is regarded as one of the foundations of
science and for that reason is taught at a very early stage. The situation
is more than absurd - freshmen are forced to learn what nobody in the
world understands.
I think I do have the potential to disentangle the confusion and
present the second law as a clear and falsifiable hypothesis. Also, there
is a way to return to the original idea of thermodynamics - a
phenomenological science inverstigating COMPLEX systems independently of
the internal composition of the system. Of course, this cannot be done in
an e-mail discussion - at least a half a year course is needed. If the
physics community feels there is a need for such a step, I am available.
If not I will continue to think for myself and survive but the advantage
for science and science education would be difficult to see.

Pentcho Valev
IASAS - Technological Laboratory
125 Tzarigradsko Chaussee, Block 1
1113 Sofia, BULGARIA
E-mail: pvalev@bas.bg