Why is "" always greater in value?

I have a query where returning an IF statement with "" this "" seems to hold a greater value when using that value to compare 2 dates. In my test Excel file I've demonstrated how Cell D2 displays TRUE to the IF statement result of "" being greater than A2. I wonder if anyone can explain exactly how Excel treats the "" as despite the Cell value being blank its clearly always trumping any value being matched against it, I'd like to understand why Excel reacts this way, what exactly does "" represent if not blank? Is there an alternative to "" to have an IF statement to return the cell being blank and additionally holding no value?

Thanks!