The second law of thermodynamics states that spontaneous processes tend to be accompanied by entropy increase. Consider, however, the following spontaneous processes: the growth of plants from simple seeds to well-organized systems the growth of a fertilized egg from a single cell to a complex adult organism the formation of snowflakes from molecules of liquid water with random motion to a highly ordered crystal the growth of organized knowledge over time In all these cases, systems evolve to a state of less disorder and lower entropy, apparently violating the second law of thermodynamics. Could we, then, consider them as processes occurring in systems that are not isolated?