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The Chicken or the Egg?
By Harneet S. Panesar
February 29, 2000
According to principles of Thermodynamics, the system tries to go to the state of minimum energy. Of course, we would have to assume that:
1.the system is not tight(so that energy may escape to some other system). The principle of conservation of energy has to be followed.
2.the system is not in equilibrium and is trying to achieve it.
3.Initially, only one thing exists at one time, either the egg or the chicken.
In such a case scenario, the chicken has to come first. When an egg is first produced inside the chicken, a spontaneous exothermic reaction must occur for the egg to be laid. After laying an egg, the chicken achieves a more stable state of energy.
To prove thermodynamically that the chicken came first, we would have to use the equation:
G = H - (Temperature x S)
Using the hypothesis that the chicken came first, and the egg came second, we know that the egg will only appear if the chicken which will lay it is present. We know that a spontaneous reaction will only occur if the value of G is negative. From this, we can postulate that H is a negative value because heat is given off by the chicken when the egg is laid, thus creating disorder. The chicken would be considered a complete system which is in order. Prior to laying an egg, there is order. However, S will increase due to the fact that after laying the egg, more disorder is created. We must also assume that temperature, T is greater than 273K because this is the temperature condition under which a chicken or egg will survive. All of the above would result in a negative value for G, proving that this reaction does occur.
Conversely, if one presumes that the egg came before the chicken, then only the egg existed initially. Thus, Egg + (Heat) = Chicken
In order for the egg to hatch into a chicken, heat would have to be added from and maintained by an external source at a constant and continuous temperature for about 21 days. This external source would have to be the mother chicken which would provide the heat for incubation naturally, thus increasing H. Without a chicken, this endothermic reaction of incubation would not occur and there would be no more chickens born. Procreation of chickens would stop with this un-incubated egg. Hence by negative association, then the opposite of this hypothesis must be true, that is, the chicken must have come before the egg.
In conclusion, using thermodynamics, we can prove that the chicken came before the egg.
Bibliography
Lander Resources, Toronto, 1998
Word Count: 447
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