Dissipative structures entropy driven

In capsides the self-assembling process is entropy driven. Of course, it would be of interest to carry out experiments in dissipative structures. 

From the thermodynamical point of view the formation of dissipative structures is entropy driven as intensively explained by Prigogine Glansdorf (1971). The criteria for surface instabilities due to mass transfer across a liquid interface were evaluated by Stemling Scriven (1959). The typical Marangoni instability starts on surfactant concentration or temperature differences between two phases. Surface tension differences along the surface are... 

In the previous chapter we have seen that the stability of the thermodynamic branch is no longer assured when a system is driven far from equilibrium. In section 18.3 we have seen how a necessary condition (18.3.7) for a system to become unstable can be obtained by using the second variation of entropy, 5 5. Beyond this point, we are confronted with a multiplicity of states and unpredictability. To understand the precise conditions for instability and the subsequent behavior of a system, we need to use the specific features of the system, such as the rates of chemical reactions and the hydrodynamic equations. There are, however, some general features of far-from-equilibrium systems that we will summarize in this section. A detailed discussion of dissipative structures will be presented in the following sections. 

The minimum entropy production theorem dictates that, for a system near equilibrium to achieve a steady state, the entropy production must attain the least possible value compatible with the boundary conditions. Near equilibrium, if the steady state is perturbed by a small fluctuation (8), the stability of the steady state is assured if the time derivative of entropy production (P) is less than or equal to zero. This may be expressed mathematically as dPIdt 0. When this condition pertains, the system will develop a mechanism to damp the fluctuation and return to the initial state. The minimum entropy production theorem, however, may be viewed as providing an evolution criterion since it implies that a physical system open to fluxes will evolve until it reaches a steady state which is characterized by a minimal rate of dissipation of energy. Because a system on the thermodynamic branch is governed by the Onsager reciprocity relations and the theorem of minimum entropy production, it cannot evolve. Yet as a system is driven further away from equilibrium, an instability of the thermodynamic branch can occur and new structures can arise through the formation of dissipative structures which requires the constant dissipation of energy. 

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