Maxwell's Demon Thought Experiment

A Maxwell's Demon Thought Experiment is a thought experiment which illustrates that the Second Law of Thermodynamics has only a statistical certainty.

• See: Philosophy of Thermal And Statistical Physics, Thought Experiment, Physicist, James Clerk Maxwell, Second Law of Thermodynamics, Demon_(Thought_experiment), Entropy, Cambridge University Press.

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References

2014

• (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell's_demon Retrieved:2014-8-15.
  • In the philosophy of thermal and statistical physics, Maxwell's demon is a thought experiment created by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell to "show that the Second Law of Thermodynamics has only a statistical certainty". It demonstrates Maxwell's point by hypothetically describing how to violate the Second Law: a container of gas molecules at equilibrium is divided into two parts by an insulated wall, with a door that can be opened and closed by what came to be called "Maxwell's demon". The demon opens the door to allow only the faster than average molecules to flow through to a favored side of the chamber, and only the slower than average molecules to the other side, causing the favored side to gradually heat up while the other side cools down, thus decreasing entropy.

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