I don't think this comes as a surprise.
Consider four molecules in a box. The second law would suggest that they should never be on the same side of the box. But statistically, it happens sometimes.
What about four million molecules? Again, despite the law, it is statistically possible. Just very unlikely.
The Second Law, ultimately, is not a true "Law" but a description of what is statistically most likely. In most cases, it is not only most likely, but overwhelmingly most likely. But on the small-scale, exceptions to the "Law" become more likely than on the large-scale. There is no magical force that makes the Second Law work -- it is merely an overall consequence of statistical mechanics, just as Newtonian mechanics seems to work on the large-scale but is really just an overall consequence of more sophisticated physics.
|