Captain Entropy

I'm going to tell you some things about the spaceship you live on, called Earth

And about some of its passengers

First, I'd like you to meet the Captain

Gather around sailors and listen to me

And I'll tell you about Captain Entropy

Entropy is something that happens

It's so important, it functions something like a captain

Captain Entropy commands the Earth and sky and sea

Moving, flowing, strong and free

Partly human, partly mean

Children all know entropy, because kids are full of energy

They give their energy where there is little or none

And work begins, and work is done

But hеre's what I mean

Do this right now:

Take any objеct from a table or shelf and slowly place it onto the floor

Go ahead now

Good

Feel the pull of gravity on your body and on the object

Pretend to fight gravity

Pretend the object is very heavy

But you are strong and you can handle it

Now lie down on the floor beside the object and try to shape your body to resemble its contours

Now I want you to carefully pick up the object and lift it slowly

That's right

Fight gravity with all your might and return the object to the exact place you took it from

Like a movie running in reverse

You have just made magic

Your energy has flowed through your hands and you have caused an object to rise

Even though gravity wanted it to return to the floor

By now you can feel that entropy involves a flow of energy

When entropy is around, energy flows from a point where it is more concentrated to a place where it is less concentrated

People call the existence of entropy the laws of thermodynamics

Now I want you all to get up off the floor and half of you stand over here

And I want the other half of you to stand over here for two groups, one in front of each speaker

Now we're going to demonstrate what people mean by entropy

Hey, you over here, you're a coffee pot, you're a bubble and you're boiling hot

Move your bodies to coffee boils and twist and steam as it flies in coils

Now you over here, you're a lump of ice, you're stiff and cold but kind of nice

Move your body in a firm position because of the condition of your frozen condition

That's right now, ice lump, you slide over to the coffee pot

In coffee pot, you boil your way over to the ice lump, nice and slow

And both of you connect and do just what comes naturally

The coffee in the pot stops boiling and stands still and the ice lump changes shape and melts on the floor

Cold energy flows from the cold ice lump into the coffee pot, which could jump

Energy flowed from the coffee pot and changed the ice to warm or hot

This natural flow of energy which balances things for you and me, commands the earth and sky and sea

And it is led by Captain Entropy

The path of entropy leads everywhere because energy seems to keep on evening itself out

You work or play all day and your energy runs down and you eat food and energy from that food flows into you

Well, what if someday, entropy's command becomes so great that everything stops?

What if energy distributes itself so well that everything is equal everywhere?

Would this mean that spaceship earth would stop or maybe land somewhere?

Well, here's the answer:

If you love to love and if you love to move and be, you may decide to go on to something else

You might just rest your body and use the power of your mind to think and dream and imagine and fly

Maybe if all physical things came to a stand still, maybe your thoughts and dreams would still go on forever

To other ships and other universes until the very entropy of your mind came home again and again and again and again

(Music)

Well the air leaks out of a big balloon
While a monkey smiles and a laughing moon
And a flower loves a parasite
While enemies forget to fight
And a witch in a garden laughs as she
Takes a spell from you and me
And gives it to a galaxy that waits for Captain Entropy

Well the air leaks out of a big balloon
While a monkey smiles and a laughing moon
And a flower loves a parasite
While enemies forget to fight
And a witch in a garden laughs as she
Takes a spell from you and me
And gives it to a galaxy that waits for Captain Entropy

(Music)