I genuinely love how scientists were like “Yeah, entropy is absolute and everything must tend toward disorder” then maxwell came along and said “but what if it didnt” and the entire scientific world of the time had a stroke
It is only a what if, though. There is no known mechanism that would actually perform the proposed action, and certainly not without requiring its own amount of energy to operate which would inherently add to the entropy in that system. In fact, no such mechanism is possible. And if it turned out that it were, the presence and functionality of that mechanism would upend a good deal of physics as we know it.
So that’s why it’s still a thought experiment and not a practical one.
We already have devices that can move energy from one side of a system to another (Peltiers, heat pumps, etc.) but they inherently consume energy and in so doing produce waste heat, because that’s how the universe works.
Right, but at the time they weren’t sure of that. It’s like how Freud spawned modern psychology, by people insisting he was wrong and stupid and then proving just how wrong and stupid he is
Yeah, I am reading this and I am like “how does this throw what we know of the second law outta whack? It’s just… A thought?”
I mean, I could be too dumb to understand that they have evidence of this demon, but it sure doesn’t sound like that’s the case. It sounds exactly as you describe it lol
But it doesn’t hold incredibly well so it likely isn’t true.
Imagine if we had a device that could create free energy. He look, I’ve violated thermodynamics. Physicists will need to scramble to refute my idea. My idea holds so well it must be true.
Yes, of course it doesn’t, that isn’t the point. The point is that we can’t PROVE entropy, but have put it as the linchpin of much of our theories of physics. It’s a criticism of “scientific certainty”, especially of his time. In his time, physics was considered a “complete science”, meaning nothing new could be discovered or proven.
if the door is light enough and small enough, molecules would push effectively this door one way open but not the other way.
Do you understand why it would work ?
Do you understand why it doesn’t work ?
I genuinely love how scientists were like “Yeah, entropy is absolute and everything must tend toward disorder” then maxwell came along and said “but what if it didnt” and the entire scientific world of the time had a stroke
It is only a what if, though. There is no known mechanism that would actually perform the proposed action, and certainly not without requiring its own amount of energy to operate which would inherently add to the entropy in that system. In fact, no such mechanism is possible. And if it turned out that it were, the presence and functionality of that mechanism would upend a good deal of physics as we know it.
So that’s why it’s still a thought experiment and not a practical one.
We already have devices that can move energy from one side of a system to another (Peltiers, heat pumps, etc.) but they inherently consume energy and in so doing produce waste heat, because that’s how the universe works.
Right, but at the time they weren’t sure of that. It’s like how Freud spawned modern psychology, by people insisting he was wrong and stupid and then proving just how wrong and stupid he is
Yeah, I am reading this and I am like “how does this throw what we know of the second law outta whack? It’s just… A thought?”
I mean, I could be too dumb to understand that they have evidence of this demon, but it sure doesn’t sound like that’s the case. It sounds exactly as you describe it lol
The point was that we hadn’t PROVEN it, and technically we still haven’t. It just holds so incredibly well that it most likely is true.
So that big what if is just a reminder that it’s possible, even though we are like 99.99999% sure it isnt.
But it doesn’t hold incredibly well so it likely isn’t true.
Imagine if we had a device that could create free energy. He look, I’ve violated thermodynamics. Physicists will need to scramble to refute my idea. My idea holds so well it must be true.
Yes, of course it doesn’t, that isn’t the point. The point is that we can’t PROVE entropy, but have put it as the linchpin of much of our theories of physics. It’s a criticism of “scientific certainty”, especially of his time. In his time, physics was considered a “complete science”, meaning nothing new could be discovered or proven.
I’m sorry, I completely misunderstood what you meant. I thought you were referring to Maxwell’s demon as certain because it hasn’t been disproven.
Let’s simplify this to a one-way door :
if the door is light enough and small enough, molecules would push effectively this door one way open but not the other way.
Do you understand why it would work ?
Do you understand why it doesn’t work ?