second law of thermodynamics
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second law of thermodynamics
[′sek·ənd ′lȯ əv ‚thər·mə·dī′nam·iks] (thermodynamics)
A general statement of the idea that there is a preferred direction for any process; there are many equivalent statements of the law, the best known being those of Clausius and of Kelvin.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.