Dr. N.L. Kachhara
According to Jain philosophy the smallest constituent of all matter and energy is paramanu. The modes of energy of the paramanu change spontaneously [1] and so we have parmanus in which the electric energy is very small compared to thermal energy and also parmanus in which the thermal energy is very small compared to electric energy. So theoretically we can describe the cosmos in three ways.
- Thermal cosmos a thermal system having limited role of electric energy.
- Electric cosmos an electric (or magnetic) system having limited thermal activity.
- General cosmos - a system in which both thermal and electric (or magnetic) energy are important for processes.
The state of a free paramanu is unpredictable, it can move with different velocities, from zero to very high velocity, and can occupy any position in the cosmos. The parmanu is thus associated with highest uncertainty. With the formation of clusters in a vargana the freedom of motion of the paramanu is subjected to restriction thereby reducing its uncertainty. This reduction in uncertainty gives rise to some order in the arrangement of paramanus in the vargana. The order is increased in those vargana, which have parmanus in the bonded state. The order is still high in matter which is comprised of largest mass type vargana. According to rules available in Jain philosophy bonding between two paramanus takes place when the difference in their electric charge exceeds a minimum level. This shows that a high electric charge (or magnetism) increases order in the system.
The processes taking place in varganas like clustering, declustering, bonding and separation are spontaneous. In the smaller mass less varganas the paramanus simply cluster without bonding and decluster easily. The process is going on randomly and is not expected to change the overall order in the cosmos. In the larger mass type varganas, which are in the form of energy, bonding and debonding is an electrical activity, which must be reversible in nature without disturbing the overall order in the system. Scientific theories indicate that 73 percent mass in the universe is in the form of dark energy. According to Jain philosophy the varganas must comprise this part of energy. We therefore expect that this 73 percent mass does not change order in the universe. Amongst the rest of the mass about 23 percent is said to be dark matter and the remaining 4 percent is visible (luminous) matter. Over 99 percent of the visible mass is contained in the stars and therefore their activities are important from the view of prevailing order in the universe.
The thermal processes taking place in matter are subjected to the second law of thermodynamics, according to which in an isolated system like universe the entropy is always increasing pushing the system towards an equilibrium state where no useful work is possible. We have stated above that the universe can be regarded both as a thermal system and an electrical system and that the system can change its mode from one type to another spontaneously. This has important implications regarding the overall order in the universe.
There is scientific evidence that verifies a spontaneous change in the mode of a system. In a process known as adiabatic demagnetization a reversible change in temperature of a suitable material is caused by exposing the material to a changing magnetic field. In this type of refrigeration process, a sample of solid such as chrome alum salt, whose molecules are equivalent to tiny magnets, is inside in insulated enclosure cooled to a low temperature, typically 4 Kelvin or 2 Kelvin, with a strong magnetic field being applied to the container using a powerful external magnet, so that the tiny molecular magnets are aligned forming a well-ordered "initial" state at that low temperature. The magnetic alignment means that the magnetic energy of each molecule is minimal. The external magnetic field is then reduced, a removal that is considered to be closely reversible. Following this reduction, the atomic magnets then assume random lessordered orientations, owning to thermal agitation, in the "final" state. The "disorder" and hence the entropy associated with the change in the atomic alignments has clearly increased. In terms of energy flow, the movement from a magnetically aligned state requires energy from the thermal motion of the molecules, converting thermal energy into magnetic energy. Yet, according to the second law of thermodynamics, because no heat can enter or leave the container, due to its adiabatic insulation, the system should exhibit no change in entropy. The increase in disorder, however, associated with the randomizing directions of the atomic magnets represents an entropy increase? To compensate for this, the disorder (entropy) associated with the temperature of the specimen must decrease by the same amount. The temperature thus falls as a result of this process of thermal energy being converted into magnetic energy. If the magnetic field is then increased, the temperature rises again.
One variant of adiabatic demagnetization is nuclear demagnetization refrigeration (NDR). In NDR the cooling power arises from the magnetic dipoles of the nuclei of the refrigerant atoms, rather than their electron configurations since these dipoles are of much smaller magnitude, they are less prone to self- alignment and have lower intrinsic minimum fields. This allows NDR to cool the nuclear spin system to very low temperatures, often 1µK or below.
The above example of adiabatic demagnetization shows that:
- The thermal energy and magnetic energy can mutually interchange spontaneously in an adiabatic system.
- The order in the system depends on both the thermal energy and magnetic energy.
- At low temperature the thermal energy and magnetic energy have opposing effect on ordering.
These observations though made under specific conditions do support the views that the universe can be regarded both as thermal system and electrical (or magnetic) system and that the overall order in the universe is jointly determined by these two modes.
