February 2007
Intermediate to advanced
190 pages
7h 51m
English
Or, Let’s Build a Vortex Tube Party!

Photography by Mark Frauenfelder and Mister Jalopy
IN 1867, SCOTTISH PHYSICIST ROBERT Clerk Maxwell proposed a “thought experiment,” suggesting that it may be possible to break the second law of thermodynamics, if you could find a molecularly minded demon that was willing to cooperate.
Start with two hypothetical containers of equal temperature with a connecting trap door controlled by a gatekeeper to sort hot from cold molecules. When the demon sees a fast/hot molecule racing toward the door, he opens the trap to let the hotter molecule speed into container A. Similarly, if ...
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