Abstract
The unique thermodynamic method of biological organization has been clarified through the all-round comparison of main types of natural systems. The balances between contributions of entropy, free energy, and information are main criteria for the comparison. A key distinction of living systems from all non-living ones consists in prevalence of the free energy and information contributions over the entropy contribution. The availability of the surplus “over-entropy” free energy and information being not suppressed by entropy organizes the entire system, providing its active existence in the environment (that we call life). The negentropy method of biological organization is based on the following most fundamental properties: (1) the ability for active extraction of free energy and information from the environment; (2) the ability for the intensified counteraction to an external influence; (3) expedient behavior; and (4) regular self-renovation. The living and non-living worlds are differed by means of the negentropy barrier. The transition of non-living organic microsystems into initial forms of life demands the thermodynamic inversion , i.e., arising of the over-entropy free energy and information allowing export entropy outside
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Kompanichenko, V.N. (2017). General Thermodynamic Characteristics of Living Systems. In: Thermodynamic Inversion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53512-8_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53512-8_2
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