Clausius formulates it as "The entropy of
the world tends toward a maximum." It is easier to smash up than to
build up. Children find that this is true of their toys; the Bolsheviki
have found that it is true of a civilization. So, too, the chemist knows
analysis is easier than synthesis and that creative chemistry is the
highest branch of his art.
This explains why chemists discovered how to take rubber apart over
sixty years before they could find out how to put it together. The first
is easy. Just put some raw rubber into a retort and heat it. If you can
stand the odor you will observe the caoutchouc decomposing and a
benzine-like liquid distilling over. This is called "isoprene." Any
Freshman chemist could write the reaction for this operation. It is
simply
C_{10}H_{16} --> 2C_{5}H_{8}
caoutchouc isoprene
That is, one molecule of the gum splits up into two molecules of the
liquid. It is just as easy to write the reaction in the reverse
directions, as 2 isoprene--> 1 caoutchouc, but nobody could make it go
in that direction.
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