Discussion of "Maxwell's Demon" as a violation of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
The usual argument against this allegation that the second law can be violated goes as follows. You must include the demon in the physical system you are considering. Even though the entropy of the gas does decrease throught his activities, the demon's own entropy may be increasing in the process, so that total result will still be a net increase in entropy. (2, p. 186)
This page was last updated on July 29, 1996, by
Dr. Umpleby.