Thermodynamic damage measurements of an operating system

Degradation in materials leads to some sort of irreversible damage. Sometimes it is difficult to detect the damage. Often we wait for catastrophic failure to occur. From an energy standpoint, any degradation causes disorder, this disorder causes the entropy of the system to increase. The key is, can we measure the disorder prior to catastrophic failure. In theory, any disorder can disrupt the overall energy flow of an operating system. It is this telltale aspect that we seek to measure. Whether the system is, an amplifier, an engine, the human body, or even the earth's atmospheric system, in theory, when the operating system of interest has degraded, disorder has increased that is associated with irreversible thermodynamic damage that occurred and the entropy has in fact increased. The system's useful free energy is diminished. How best can we measure this change and what state variables should we look at? In this paper we will specifically look at system level noise which is commonly overlooked as a measurement tool. Like a wobbly fan making noise, system level noise is potentially a great tool for measuring certain kinds of thermodynamic damage. Noise in this sense, can be detected using a sensitive instrument which might be measuring electron current noise, fluid flow noise, or even thermal noise. We will also discuss exactly how to make such entropy measurements. Such measurements can potentially help in assessing the system's state warning of potential issues. Results provide a specific method of noise degradation measurements that exemplifies how one can assess thermodynamic damage at the system level by looking at system's operating energy state over time. It may or may not be the best variable depending upon the degradation process. We also cite an example of human heart rate noise degradation failure to help illustrate these concepts. Once we accept the notion of entropy damage in aging systems, we open up opportunities to look at such new ways for assessing degradation. Our ability to make new and improved measurements is only hindered by our creativity and our instruments that we use to resolve and detect entropy damage. In this paper we introduce the concepts and propose looking at the system's active energy state proving an actual design for assembling thermodynamic noise damage measurement equipment.