A thought experiment called Maxwell’s demon, long hypothesised to break the laws of physics, could be made using simple electronic devices at macroscopic scales – without upsetting the laws of thermodynamics
An illustration of a computer motherboard with transistors
EDUARD MUZHEVSKYI / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
A 155-year-old thought experiment, long thought to break the laws of thermodynamics, could be made real on a large scale.
Maxwell’s demon is a thought experiment first proposed by Scottish mathematician James Clerk Maxwell in 1867. He imagined a tiny demon controlling a door between two gas-filled chambers of a box. By carefully opening and closing the door, the demon allows only fast-moving gas particles into one chamber and slow-moving ones into the other. Because the speed of its particles determines a …