The Earth, Living Beings and Entropy

A unificative entropical view of Nature is proposed. The situation of the Earth is analyzed from the viewpoint of entropy, and it is pointed out that water circulation is very important for the Earth to be a living celestial body. The idea that living beings have two kinds of low-entropy materials, clean liquid water and carbohydrate, is proposed. Photosynthesis is analyzed as a process to regenerate carbohydrate. The conditions necessary for a celestial body to be a living one are discussed and it is concluded that the conditions are generally too severe to be realized; it is suggested that the Earth is a rare (perhaps unique) celestial body on which the conditions are satisfied. Soil for plants and the digestive organs of animals are analyzed and compared. Mention is made of the hierarchical multiple structure of entropy elimination. A critical discussion is made of a certain aspect of the present ideological situation, and the possibilities of producing crops fruitful even in the desert and of the realization of space colonies existing independently of the Earth are called in question. A schematic diagram of the global circulation of materials and entropy elimination attendant on processes of living is given in conclusion.Article信州大学理学部紀要 21(2): 71-88(1987)departmental bulletin pape