The Single Pole Battery: a Relativistic Understanding and Generalization of Clausius' Concept of Entropy
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Standard thermodynamics applies the concept of entropy exclusively to heat. In fact, any force may be or become inaccessible, and may thus 'be' 'high' in 'entropy,' either temporally, which I will call 'anexergy,' or eternally, as with Clausius' entropy (or 'inexergy'). For example, masses orbiting in space prevent collapse (which would release lots of energy and entropy). 'Chaos' is just one cause of configurational inaccessibility. Energy in 'entropy' is not given in Joule, but in Joule per (momentarily) unavailable degree difference, as with any natural force. Energy or exergy becoming anexergy, is energy 'moving' from a relevant, configurational, physical difference to an irrelevant, unreachable, temporal difference. Then it loses relevant configuration, becoming like a single pole of a battery; more precisely, a battery with one pole in the past and the other in the present; that way entropy can be said to 'have' (inaccessible) energy. Irreversibility is understood here as configurational inaccessibility. This paper offers a logical foundation for the universal validity of the second law, and it adds an explanation as to how the structures arising in the universe slow down entropy generation. The generalization proposed here requires no new mathematics---only a shift in how the existing concepts are read. This is the 7th version of this article; the latest version is always available at https://osf.io/preprints/osf/skphf.
Source: OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)
Author: Bert G. J. Frederiks
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204778441