TY - JOUR
T1 - Escapement mechanisms and the conversion of disequilibria; the engines of creation
AU - Branscomb, E.
AU - Biancalani, T.
AU - Goldenfeld, N.
AU - Russell, M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/3/17
Y1 - 2017/3/17
N2 - Virtually every interesting natural phenomenon, not least life itself, entails physical systems being forced to flow thermodynamically up-hill, away from equilibrium rather than towards it. This requires the action of a mechanism, acting as an “engine”, which lashes the up-hill process to a more powerful one proceeding in its spontaneous, down-hill direction; in this way converting one disequilibrium into another. All organized and dynamic elements of creation, from the galactic to the atomic, can be viewed as powered by, or being the result of, engines of disequilibria conversion; each a link in a great hierarchical cascade of conversions. There is, however, widespread misunderstanding about how disequilibria conversions happen–and indeed about what physically causes them to happen–especially regarding the role of energy and of the physical meaning of free energy. We attempt here to describe and justify what we assert is the correct alternative view of how phenomena are powered in nature, focusing especially on the molecular-level conversion processes (often called “energy conserving”) that power life and that must, then acting in an entirely abiotic context, have driven it first into being.
AB - Virtually every interesting natural phenomenon, not least life itself, entails physical systems being forced to flow thermodynamically up-hill, away from equilibrium rather than towards it. This requires the action of a mechanism, acting as an “engine”, which lashes the up-hill process to a more powerful one proceeding in its spontaneous, down-hill direction; in this way converting one disequilibrium into another. All organized and dynamic elements of creation, from the galactic to the atomic, can be viewed as powered by, or being the result of, engines of disequilibria conversion; each a link in a great hierarchical cascade of conversions. There is, however, widespread misunderstanding about how disequilibria conversions happen–and indeed about what physically causes them to happen–especially regarding the role of energy and of the physical meaning of free energy. We attempt here to describe and justify what we assert is the correct alternative view of how phenomena are powered in nature, focusing especially on the molecular-level conversion processes (often called “energy conserving”) that power life and that must, then acting in an entirely abiotic context, have driven it first into being.
KW - Biogenesis
KW - Disequilibria
KW - Entropy production
KW - Stochastic thermodynamics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054390852&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85054390852&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.physrep.2017.02.001
DO - 10.1016/j.physrep.2017.02.001
M3 - Review article
SN - 0370-1573
VL - 677
SP - 1
EP - 60
JO - Physics Reports
JF - Physics Reports
ER -