The entropy of the observable universe has been calculated as
Suni ~ 10
104 k and is dominated by the entropy of supermassive black holes. Irreversible processes in the universe can only happen if there is an entropy gap Δ
S between
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The entropy of the observable universe has been calculated as
Suni ~ 10
104 k and is dominated by the entropy of supermassive black holes. Irreversible processes in the universe can only happen if there is an entropy gap Δ
S between the entropy of the observable universe
Suni and its maximum entropy
Smax: Δ
S =
Smax −
Suni. Thus, the entropy gap Δ
S is a measure of the remaining potentially available free energy in the observable universe. To compute ΔS, one needs to know the value of
Smax. There is no consensus on whether
Smax is a constant or is time-dependent. A time-dependent
Smax(
t) has been used to represent instantaneous upper limits on entropy growth. However, if we define
Smax as a constant equal to the final entropy of the observable universe at its heat death,
Smax ≡
Smax,HD,
we can interpret T Δ
S as a measure of the remaining potentially available (but not instantaneously available) free energy of the observable universe. The time-dependent slope
dSuni/
dt(
t) then becomes the best estimate of current entropy production and T
dSuni/
dt(
t) is the upper limit to free energy extraction.
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