The Second Law of Thermodynamics

The Second law of thermodynamics states that, "Any spontaneous process is accompanied with an increase of entropy in the universe or the surroundings."
Now, your next question might be(Apart from 'why is this guy posting about the 2nd law of thermowhatchems of all things ?') : What in the blazes is entropy???
Entropy is a degree of randomness or disorder in the universe.

When I first learnt this law, I was in my 11th standard. The same law was taught at school but not with the same fervour and dedication as my IIT-JEE Chemistry professor. When he started with Thermodynamics, he began by saying, "Thermal Studies are the most boring topics in existence. Most of the topics cannot be questioned. To actually understand and raise questions in thermodynamics, a 3 hr lecture will not suffice. It has to explored practically." Later, as he started with the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, he said the same principle of practical exploration had to be applied here too, but in a more 'philosophical' perspective. In short, he said, this was a law that formed the basis of life.

It's almost 3 complete years since I attended that 3 Hr class. But, whatever he said about the 2nd law and it's relation with life still remains, though a bit fogged, in my memory unlike the other things I learnt then. Read the law again. With every spontaneous process, there is an associated increase in randomness and disorder. How very very true! Though I learnt the law in context with gaseous molecules, this can be applied to anything in daily life. Almost everything or rather, everything is associated with increasing disorder. As we grow older, we learn more things everyday. Subconsciously, the brain stores more and more information and (you'll find yourself nodding to this) hence the "memory thou fond betrayer" case. Most of the times, we can't retrieve information immediately when we need it most.

Now why the hell am I blogging about this wonderful law? Because in the last few days I've been increasingly reminded of it. For instance:

1. The Internet, a storehouse of information. But where to look? And what do you do when your search engine boasts, "1,802,056 results found. Search took just 0.09 seconds." Guess it'll take a lot lot more than 0.09 seconds to find what you need. And this is going to increase as the internet grows.

2. A friend of mine has a 180 Gb hard-disk. He made a big mistake of having only 3 partitions. Now he's reaping his rewards. After just 4 months of buying his PC and filling it up with every bit of data he's found interesting, he's having an increasingly tough-time looking for data when he needs it.

3. On a more serious note, when the tsunami struck (in a most nasty way, first drawing people out with an earthquake and then plunging them with a tsunami unawares) there were so many people in disarray.
More population, more disorder. Period.

There are many more instances which strikingly link with the law. But nah, I won't bore you with them. I'll remember this law for a long long time. Go ahead, make your life better by looking at it in this "hot" perspective.