Engine based on Maxwell’s demon concept may help us understand entropy

Researchers person built an motor based connected a celebrated thought experimentation called Maxwell’s demon, and it whitethorn assistance america recognize however entropy is produced

Physics 20 September 2022

By Leah Crane

A canister of shaking beads mimics the Maxwell’s demon thought experiment

Antoine Naert/ENS de Lyon

A instrumentality based connected a 155-year-old thought experimentation has been realised astatine the largest standard yet, and it whitethorn assistance america recognize however entropy, oregon disorder, is produced. It could besides someday beryllium utilized to harvest vigor from motion.

Maxwell’s demon is simply a thought experimentation archetypal projected by Scottish mathematician James Clerk Maxwell successful 1867. He imagined a tiny demon sorting state particles by somesthesia into 2 chambers, heating up 1 and cooling down another. In theory, this …