SFI Mentor: Alfred Hubler
Abstract: Several systems or networks display self-organizing behavior that is characterized by a state with the maximum production of entropy. Such systems are complex in that they are open, i.e. they are not thermally isolated and therefore, the system has access to a continuous supply of energy, and dissipative, i.e. they output energy to external energy reservoirs. The nature of entropy production in these systems is explored by analyzing an example rst proposed by Prigogine. An expression for the rate of entropy production in an R-C circuit will be used to demonstrate the behavior of entropy production observed in experiment. The insight provided will then be applied to the phenomena of arbortrons - a selforganizing collection of conducting particles due to an imposed electrical current.