# Dissipative Structure **Entity class:** Scientific concept **Domain:** Thermodynamics / Complex Systems **Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node **Maturity:** Developing ## Definition A **dissipative structure** is an ordered pattern that arises and persists in a system held far from thermodynamic equilibrium by a continuous flow of energy and matter. The structure maintains its local order by accelerating the degradation of the energy flowing through it and exporting entropy to its surroundings. Ilya Prigogine received the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for contributions to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures. ## Examples Classic laboratory examples include Rayleigh–Bénard convection cells, which form when a fluid is heated from below, and the oscillating Belousov–Zhabotinsky chemical reaction. Living organisms, ecosystems and cities have been analyzed in the same terms: Eric Schneider and James Kay argued that life itself is a manifestation of the second law, organizing to degrade energy gradients more effectively. ## Corpus Context The corpus treats biological intelligence, human civilization and planetary computation as successive dissipative structures, each arising where energy gradients are steep. [[wiki/Computational Metabolism|Computational metabolism]] describes the computational case, and [[wiki/The Bloom|the Bloom]] names its planetary expansion in [[articles/There Is Only One Rocket on the Pad|There Is Only One Rocket on the Pad]]. ## Relationships - **Related concepts:** [[wiki/Phase Transition|Phase Transition]] · [[wiki/Regime Shift|Regime Shift]] · [[wiki/Attractor|Attractor]] - **Corpus applications:** [[wiki/Computational Metabolism|Computational Metabolism]] · [[wiki/The Bloom|The Bloom]] · [[wiki/Metabolic Lock-In|Metabolic Lock-In]] - **Historical instance:** [[wiki/Great Oxidation Event|Great Oxidation Event]] ## Sources / Provenance - Nobel Prize Outreach. "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1977: Ilya Prigogine." - Prigogine, Ilya, and Isabelle Stengers. *Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue with Nature.* Bantam, 1984. - Schneider, Eric D., and James J. Kay. "Life as a Manifestation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics." *Mathematical and Computer Modelling* 19, no. 6–8 (1994): 25–48.