The dependence of the dissipation rate of open and dissipative systems on noise and the phenomena of spontaneous wire formation

Several systems or networks display self-organizing behavior that is characterized by a state with the maximum production of entropy. Such systems are complex in that they are open, i.e. they are not thermally isolated and therefore, the system has access to a continuous supply of energy, and dissipative, i.e. they output energy to external energy reservoirs. The nature of entropy production in these systems is explored by analyzing an example first proposed by Prigogine. An expression for the rate of entropy production in an R-C circuit will be used to demonstrate the behavior of entropy production observed in experiment. The insight provided will then be applied to the phenomena of self-organizing wires made of carbon nanotubes particles dissolved in a non-polar dielectric fluid.