How does negentropy apply in living systems?

Living systems apply negentropy by functioning as open systems that maintain a high level of internal order at the expense of their environment. The concept, popularized by physicist Erwin Schrödinger, explains how life seemingly defies the Second Law of Thermodynamics (which states total entropy, or disorder, always increases).

Here’s how it works:

• Living Organisms are Open Systems: A living cell or organism constantly exchanges matter and energy with its surroundings. It is not an isolated or closed system.
• "Feeding on Negentropy": To maintain its complex structure (a state of low entropy or high order), an organism imports high-energy, low-entropy substances (like food) and low-entropy energy (like sunlight).
• Exporting Entropy: Through metabolic processes, the organism breaks down these ordered substances. This process is highly efficient but not perfect. It releases energy to fuel life, but it also exports waste products (like CO2, water) and dissipated heat into the environment.
• The Net Result: The waste products and heat have much higher entropy (more disorder) than the food that was taken in. Therefore, while the organism locally decreases its own entropy (maintains order), it does so by globally increasing the total entropy of the universe (its surroundings) by an even larger amount.

Living systems are not perpetual motion machines. They are highly complex processes that maintain internal order (negentropy) by efficiently converting low-entropy energy into high-entropy waste, thus fully complying with the Second Law of Thermodynamics.