What If We Could Weaken Or Stop Entropy Within A Scifi Field?

[Spacescifi]

Scenario: A scientist who is fed up with entropy creates a device that generates a field that either weakens it or can stop it altogether anywhere within the scope of the scifi field.

Let's call it an anti-entropy field.

Main Question: Has he done a good thing or a terribly insane thing?

Is weakening or stopping entropy ever a bad thing? What applications would it have for spaceflight if you paired it with rocketry of any kind (modern to scifi advanced).

And why does some nagging thought in the back of my head tell me that entropy exists for a reason and by changing that it's like opening pandora's box?

Someone enlighten me please... lol.

This probably won't end well.

I can't help but envision a crazy scifi fantasy scenario where the scientist suceeds in weakening or stopping entropy in a limited space... and the universe does not like it one bit. In fact, it hates it so much it summons the great space kraken or Cthulhu who begins destroying a bunch of stuff randomly to balance the entropy being stopped or weakened.

So while entropy is being stopped or weakened somewhere else in the universe, Cthulhu is running wild elsewhere and won't stop until entropy is no longer inhibited.

Edited Thursday at 03:13 AM by Spacescifi

[Hannu2]

Entropy is practically mathematical formulation for fact that probable things happen more often than improbable. Breaking it breaks all known natural laws and whole idea of causality.  Yous have to define more conditions to think what could happen and I think almost anything.

In my opinion knowledge and tech is not good or bad. Humans can be and they can use things to good or bad (intentionally or as unexpected side effect). So far humans have used everything preferably to generally bad things but after long suffering and learning process they have managed to do some partially good things too. Future inventions will work similarly. Ability to break all known natural laws, for example generating suddenly energy of couple of supernovas from nowhere, would maybe cause extinction before learning.

[kerbiloid]

All heat machines stop working.

The fridge with cola as well.

[KSK]

That scientist probably just killed themself.

You probably want an actual physicist to answer this rather than someone who's relying on vague memories of a 'thermodynamics for chemistry' lecture course that he endured thirty years ago but here goes.

The change in Gibbs Free Energy (delta-G), of a chemical reaction tells you whether it can happen or not.

Delta-G = delta-H - T x delta-S,

where delta-H is the change in enthalpy (heat absorbed or released by the reaction), T is the temperature (in Kelvin) and delta-S is the change in entropy.

For a thermodynamically favourable (read, allowable) reaction, you want a negative delta-G.  For exothermic reactions that doesn't tend to be a problem since delta-H is already negative. For endothermic reactions (positive delta-H) - well they just don't happen unless the associated change in entropy is high enough.

So your entropy reducing or eliminating field probably scuffs up a lot of rather important biochemistry, which tends to be bad for one's health.  No doubt it would scuff up a lot of other chemistry too, but I doubt your dead scientist is going to be in a position to care too much about that.

Aside from that, think of any situation where you want disorder to increase. Things dissolving. Gases expanding. Stuff like that. Not going to happen if entropy can't change. To take one benign example, imagine dropping a lump of sugar in your tea (we'll ignore the fact that sugar in tea is an abomination that Cthulu themself won't go near).  Imagine that lump of sugar dropping to the bottom of your mug - and not doing anything at all. Because it can't without increasing entropy.

[darthgently]

4 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

And why does some nagging thought in the back of my head tell me that entropy exists for a reason and by changing that it's like opening pandora's box?

So for anybody in the this field diffusion would stop working in all the cells of their body and they wouldn't be able to dissipate heat?  Could get quite unlivable

Actually, in the extreme,  I'm pretty sure this is just another way to describe the "time stopping device" that has been in sci-fi many times.  Entropy is the arrow of time.  Time cannot pass without it

[kerbiloid]

Adenosine triphosphate stops being produced.

All organisms say "Low battery!" and get offline.

[farmerben]

4 hours ago, darthgently said:

 

Actually, in the extreme,  I'm pretty sure this is just another way to describe the "time stopping device" that has been in sci-fi many times.  Entropy is the arrow of time.  Time cannot pass without it

I can at least imagine this.  A time stopped bubble in an otherwise normal universe.  Other alternatives are difficult to imagine.

[magnemoe]

9 hours ago, darthgently said:

So for anybody in the this field diffusion would stop working in all the cells of their body and they wouldn't be able to dissipate heat?  Could get quite unlivable

Actually, in the extreme,  I'm pretty sure this is just another way to describe the "time stopping device" that has been in sci-fi many times.  Entropy is the arrow of time.  Time cannot pass without it

Agree, it sounds a lot like an time stopping/ slowing field. Even if not slowing time it would work as an stasis device, probably not for creatures but for food and chemicals. Increasing it would also be very useful. 
Now this breaks more laws than faster than light I think. 

[NFUN]

Then you have once again created a supernatural situation completely divorced from reality without enough details to make any kind of actual prediction. The question "What if magic is real?" could be answered with "then Harry Potter" or "then Lord of the Rings" with equal reasonableness, and the de facto solution depends if you're Rowling or Tolkien

 

Create the world you want to build, then come up with the justifications. You don't have the background to do it the other way around

[kerbiloid]

25 minutes ago, NFUN said:

The question "What if magic is real?" could be answered with "then Harry Potter"

Just don't tell that the magic indeed works like in Hurried Potter...

In Tolkien's books there was no magic at all, only requesting Iluvatar OS via local providers.

Arcanum, Nine Princes In Amber would be at least understandable as examples.

***

Also we should not forget that thermodynamic Information is defined as delta-Info = - delta-Entropy.

So, no Entropy change - no Information change, no thinking.

And as mathematically the Entropy is a logarithm of statistical weight of the system, its stopping means stopping any states of any system.

[magnemoe]

1 hour ago, NFUN said:

Then you have once again created a supernatural situation completely divorced from reality without enough details to make any kind of actual prediction. The question "What if magic is real?" could be answered with "then Harry Potter" or "then Lord of the Rings" with equal reasonableness, and the de facto solution depends if you're Rowling or Tolkien

 

Create the world you want to build, then come up with the justifications. You don't have the background to do it the other way around

If you give the user an complex and free magic system, it will reach an singularity very fast. 
Elder scroll 3 Morrowind had two major ones: First potion strength depended in part of your intelligence, you could make increase intelligence potions who will buff later potions. Max level for any attribute  was 100 leveling up. 
With alchemy limit was 2 billion. buffing your strength to one million and you was one punch man, you still needed the skill to hit.
But you could also make spells like 7  x 100% weakness to magic and leach health 100  AoE. 

Or my levitate 0 for 60 second AoE, an none offensive spell who made all inside area levitate but at crawling speed. Use then chased by guards or people you don't want to hurt.