eclipse eventually occur in the way that it did.

If we go further back, we might

reach the dense state of
matter, that perhaps existed before the explosion that may have led to the prese
nt state of the part of the
universe that is now visible to us. Then, the motions of the entities existing i
n this previous state, whatever
they may have been, would have contributed to making the eclipse occur in the wa
y that it did. But these
motions would be contingent on something still earlier. And so on without limit.
It is clear, moreover, that
the eclipse of the moon is a phenomenon that is subject to an exceptionally simp
le type of determination,
because of the approximate isolation of the earth and moon from other things. In
other processes, where the
degree of isolation is much less, the intertwining and fusion of the effects of
more and more contingencies
and more different qualities as we go further back is much greater. Thus, over a
n infinite period of time, the
determination of even the essential features of an effect is evidently not purel
y mechanical, because it
involves not only an infinite number of contingent factors but also an infinity
of kinds of qualities, properties,
laws of connection, all of which themselves undergo fundamental changes with the
passage of time.
11.
REVERSIBILITY VERSUS IRREVERSIBILITY OF THE LAWS OF NATURE
In this section we shall make a few remarks concerning the implications of the q
ualitative infinity of nature
with regard to the question of whether the laws of nature are reversible or irre
versible.
It is well known that thus far the laws of microscopic physics have demonstrated
themselves to be
reversible. This follows from the fact that starting with any solution of the ba
sic equations for the system
(Newton s laws of motion, the laws of relativity, the laws of quantum theory), ano
ther possible solution can
be found by replacing the time,* t, by its negative, t. Physically this means tha
t given any motion, it is
always possible, in principle at least, for a similar motion to take place, whic
h is, however, executed in the
reverse order. Of course, to obtain such a reversal of motion in reality, we wou
ld have to alter the boundary
conditions appropriately (e.g. reverse all the velocities of the various particl
es, rates of change of the fields,
etc.). Such a reversal does not, in general, occur spontaneously, at least withi
n any practically significant
periods of time. To show that this is so let us consider, for example, two boxes
of gas, one containing
hydrogen and the other containing oxygen, and let us imagine that we open a tube
that connects them. As is
MORE GENERAL CONCEPT OF NATURAL LAW 109
well known, the gases will diffuse into each other. The reason is, of course, th
at the complicated and
irregular motions of the hydrogen molecules will tend to carry them into the cha
mber originally containing
oxygen, while similar motions of the oxygen molecules will tend to carry them in
to the chamber originally
containing the hydrogen. As we have seen in Chapter II, Section 12, such process
es can be treated in terms
of the laws of chance, so that the theory of probability can be applied to them.

Since over a long period of

time it is equally probable that any particular molecule will occupy any given r
egion of space, we conclude
that on the average and in the long run we will obtain a practically uniform mix
ture of hydrogen and
oxygen. It is characteristic of the laws of chance, however, that fluctuations a
way from the average can
occur, although large fluctuations are very rare. A simple calculation, using th
e appropriate law of
probability for these fluctuations, shows, for example, that a chance combinatio
n of motions that led all the
hydrogen and oxygen back into their original containers would, under typical con
ditions, not occur for
10l010 years (i.e. 1 followed by ten thousand million zeros). Clearly, then, alt
hough the motion may in
principle reverse, the probability that this will happen is so small that we may
for practical purposes ignore
this possibility, especially considering the fact that, in any case, the contain
ers of gas could not possibly last
for such a long time.
It is possible by means of analysis described above to understand the observed i
rreversibility in various
physical phenomenon, such as the flow of heat, the establishment of thermal and
mechanical equilibrium in
fluids, etc. But this still leaves us with a disturbing problem. For the above r
eduction of the observed
irreversibility of certain large-scale phenomena to the effects of chance does n
ot alter the fact that the
fundamental equations of motion are reversible, so that there is no inherent rea
son why processes in general
must necessarily always take place in one direction only, since either direction
would in principle be
possible. Thus, if all the velocities and rates of change of fields did actually
manage to be reversed for any
reason whatever (e.g. by chance), then heat could go from a lower to a higher te
mperature, water could flow
from the sea back to its sources in the mountains, etc. The fact that these even
ts are so fantastically
improbable does not detract from the problem of principle presented here, which
is this: Do the generally
irrevocable effects of the passage of time in so wide a range of fields really c
ome out of nothing more than
the random mixing or shuffling according to the laws of chance of molecular and
other types of motion, the
reversal of which is in principle possible but in practice too improbable to be
considered as having any real
importance?