MAXWELL'S DEMON

Thermodynamics & Information Theory

James Clerk Maxwell (1867): A "demon" opens a trapdoor between two gas chambers, letting fast particles go right and slow particles go left. This creates a temperature gradient — apparently violating the Second Law! Resolution (Landauer 1961): erasing the demon's memory costs kT·ln2 of energy, restoring thermodynamics.

DEMON CONTROLS

Particles 80 Speed Threshold 2.5 Door Open Time 15 frames

Right T: ---
Left T: ---
ΔS: 0.00 bits
Memory: 0 bits
Crossings: 0

Landauer's Principle: Each bit erased costs ≥kT·ln2 of energy. The demon's apparent entropy decrease is exactly paid by its memory erasure. This connects information theory (Shannon) to thermodynamics (Boltzmann).