Why will pieces of shattered glass never spontaneously reassemble themselves into a glass back on top of the table?

The principle underlying the question relates to the second law of thermodynamics, which states that in an isolated system, the total entropy—the measure of disorder or randomness—will tend to increase over time. Pieces of shattered glass represent a state of higher entropy than an intact glass because the fragments are more disordered and spread out.

When glass shatters, the system moves from a low-entropy state (the intact glass) to a high-entropy state (the scattered pieces). For the glass to spontaneously reassemble itself, it would require a decrease in entropy, which contradicts the second law of thermodynamics. This law implies that such a spontaneous process is highly improbable, if not practically impossible, in a natural setting without external energy making it happen.

The other options do not accurately address the core thermodynamic principle involved. While conservation of energy and gravity are fundamental concepts in physics, they do not explain the specific nature of entropy and disorder related to the reassembling of shattered glass. Additionally, the suggestion that shattered glasses reassemble themselves is misleading since it ignores the laws of nature governing physical processes.