How to Create Entropy in Virtual Reality

A virtual reality scenario enables you to model the complex conditions and outcomes that entropy addresses. One way to use virtual reality is to create "virtual objects" that have properties like actual objects but can only be measured in quantifiable data and can only be shown in two dimensions on a screen. Creating entropy in these objects just means assigning variables to their conditions that will change in realistic ways.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Use "stack" and "queue" type objects as applied to C++ to create situations mimicking the order of playing cards and pages. The stack is a way to observe the ordering of elements. Integrate this into an interface where you can arrange virtual objects in any number of ways.

2. Show basic entropy with virtual objects like "Chair" and "Table." Use the command "Break" to separate the object into multiple pieces with diverse locations.

3. Use complex entropy objects like "Egg" to show how a high degree of disorder. Try programming a "Break" command that results in an extreme array of "bits" that rest in a multitude of locations.

4. Program a "Clean" command that shows the logistics of countering natural entropy with artificial "action" structures. The "Clean" command lets the user attempt to reconfigure virtual objects, showing the contrast between relatively stable objects (like the chair or table) and highly unstable objects (like the egg).

5. Try a general "scatter" command that applies to a multi-segmented virtual object. Show the scatter with colored animations. Then use a "Collect" command to rearrange the pieces in the interface, showing another way that actions work on entropic situations.

Resources

• Entropy is simple.
• Entropy and Second Law of Thermodynamics