11-24-2010, 09:00 PM
Hi,
Actually, Maxwell published his Demon in order to show what it would take to violate the second law of thermodynamics. The additional analysis that leads to the conclusion that the law is still not violated is a later work. Maxwell's Demon still works if one invokes a supernatural demon that 'just knows' when to open and close the door. Of course, such a hypothesis then says nothing about our natural universe.
--Pete
(11-24-2010, 03:23 AM)ZatarRufus Wrote: I believe the point at the time was that the demon still could not violate the 2nd law because it would require some sort of radiation different than what is in the rest of the system in order to see the molecules and the energy level of whatever light source was used would exceed the entrophy lost by the sorting.
Actually, Maxwell published his Demon in order to show what it would take to violate the second law of thermodynamics. The additional analysis that leads to the conclusion that the law is still not violated is a later work. Maxwell's Demon still works if one invokes a supernatural demon that 'just knows' when to open and close the door. Of course, such a hypothesis then says nothing about our natural universe.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?