Is it possible to create entropy? Is it possible to destroy it?

Is it possible to create entropy? Is it possible to destroy it? 1

Entropy, unlike energy or momentum, is not a local property. It is a macroscopic quantity, valid for a collection of molecules. Although you can take such a collection and calculate the entropy per molecule, that has no meaning by itself. Entropy gives a number that represents the likelihood that a collection of molecules or other particles will be configured in a particular way.

You can certainly lower entropy locally. When you grow a plant, you are taking the high entropy of rain and nutrients and converting them into a relatively low entropy (highly organized) state: the plant.

But, you say, entropy always increases! That’s not the entropy of any object; the thing that increases is the entropy of the universe. The plant grows, but in doing so, it throws off photons and oxygen and other things that increase the entropy of the universe.

Is it possible to create entropy? Is it possible to destroy it? 2

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