Chapter 1

What the ancients knew

Although there is no direct connection between beer and the

First Law of thermodynamics, the influence of Joule’s profes-

sional expertise in brewing technology on his scientific work is

clearly discernible. – Hans Christian von Baeyer,Warmth dis-

perses and time passes

The modest goal of this book is to take you from the mid-nineteenth century, where first-year
physics courses often end, to the science headlines you read this morning. It’s a long road. To
get to our destination on time we’ll need to focus tightly on just a few core issues involving the
interplay between energy, information, and life.
Wewill eventually erect a framework, based on only a few principles, in which to begin addressing
these issues. It’s not enough simply to enunciate a handful of key ideas, of course. If it were, then
this book could have been published on a single wallet card. The pleasure, the depth, the craft
of our subject lie in thedetailsof how living organisms work out the solutions to their challenges
within the framework of physical law. The aim of the book is to show you a few of these details,
to clothe the eternal, mathematical bones of physical law with the wet, contingent flesh of life.
Each chapter of this book opens with a biological question, and a terse slogan encapsulating a
physical idea relevant to the question. Think about these as you read the chapter.
Biological question:How can living organisms be so highly ordered?
Physical idea:Theflowof energy can leave behind increased order.

1.1 Heat

Living organisms eat, grow, reproduce, and compute. They do these things in ways that appear
totally different from man-made machines. One key difference involves the role of temperature.
Forexample, if you chill your vacuum cleaner, or even your television, to a degree above freezing,
these appliances continue to work fine. But try this with a grasshopper, or even a bacterium, and
youfind that life processes practically stop. (After all, that’s why you own a freezer in the first
place.) Understanding the interplay of heat and work will prove to be crucial to the fundamental

©c2000 Philip C. Nelson

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