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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Recurso digital |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Zenodo
2025
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17561465 |
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Table of Contents:
- <p>Physicists use the word "order" to mean opposite things. A crystal at zero temperature is "ordered" because it has fixed structure. The heat death of the universe is also "ordered" because it is perfectly uniform. This is nonsense. They cannot both be "ordered" if they are opposites.</p> <p>This paper demonstrates that "order" has no precise meaning in physics. There are four different things physicists call "order": (1) how uniformly matter is distributed in space, (2) whether there is repeating structure, (3) how many possible microscopic states the system has, and (4) how much minimum information you need to describe the system.</p> <p>These four things are NOT related. You can have one high and another low. Physicists mix them all under the word "order" and then get confused.</p> <p>This paper proposes: stop using "order" completely. Use words that mean what you are actually measuring.</p>