Configurations in Infinite Time (Or 光継ぎ?)
Configurations in Infinite Time (Or 光継ぎ?)
Entropy is a random process which tends to move systems toward maximum disorder. But when stretched over infinite time, these systems will eventually assume all possible appearances.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics—that systems will inexorably reach maximum entropy—isn’t strictly true in the specific circumstances of a closed, steady-state universe, without gravity, and over infinite time. This is, admittedly, quite rarified. Put this cup in a perfectly enclosed box without any interaction with the greater universe for eternity and the action of entropy will gradually break it down. Over infinite time the random movement of molecules will see it taking on every possible configuration, even very low entropy states (such as this reassembled cup). The time this would take is many, many times the lifetime of our universe, but it is, in principle, the case. This scale of time is something we cannot easily imagine, and the behavior of things at this scale is not something for which our intuition equips us.
The images consist of five 20″×30″ prints. In the three large images, we see a cup, shattered and repaired. In between these images, the cup is shown in many states, as it is gradually broken and repaired as if infinitely.
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