Thus,
in the infinity of time, the life of the Universe proceeds without
real stop.
This conception is, moreover, in accordance with the view certain
physicists take of the principle of Carnot. We shall see, for example,
that in the kinetic theory we are led to admit that, after waiting
sufficiently long, we can witness the return of the various states
through which a mass of gas, for example, has passed in its series of
transformations.
If we keep to the present era, evolution has a fixed direction--that
which leads to an increase of entropy; and it is possible to enquire,
in any given system to what physical manifestations this increase
corresponds. We note that kinetic, potential, electrical, and chemical
forms of energy have a great tendency to transform themselves into
calorific energy. A chemical reaction, for example, gives out energy;
but if the reaction is not produced under very special conditions,
this energy immediately passes into the calorific form. This is so
true, that chemists currently speak of the heat given out by reactions
instead of regarding the energy disengaged in general.
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