Thermodynamics and Biogenesis

This section provides a short introductory survey of an area of science which is not only mathematically exacting, but also of fundamental importance for certain aspects of biogenesis. Thermodynamics, a sub-discipline of physics, deals not only with heat and dynamics , but formulated more generally, thermodynamics is concerned with energy and entropy and deals with theorems which are valid across almost all areas of physics. 

Thermodynamic processes play an important, or even dominant, role in all branches of science, from cosmology to biology and from the vastness of space to the microcosmos of living cells. Energy and entropy determine and direct all the processes which occur in the observable world. Thermodynamics only describes the properties of large populations of particles it cannot make any statements about the behaviour of single atoms or molecules. The most important properties of a system are determined by  

An equation of state documents these quantities mathematically and identifies the system, which must be in equilibrium. There are three laws of thermodynamics, the first two of which are the best known (or should be). C. P. Snow (1993) became widely known because of his essay The Two Cultures , i.e., the sciences and the humanities. Snow relates that, in discussions with highly educated people, the idea that a scientist could know almost nothing about Shakespeare caused them to cringe, while when asked if they know the second law of thermodynamics, they reacted distantly, and even critically  

But back to our subject the first law of thermodynamics deals with energy and is also known as the law of the conservation of energy. It can be formulated as follows The increase in the internal energy of a thermodynamic system is equal to the amount of heat energy added to the system minus the work done by the system on the surroundings. Energy can occur in various forms, for example, chemical, 

Rauchfuss, Chemical Evolution and the Origin of Life, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008 

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