Information as thermodynamic resource: Landauer's principle in action
Cycle steps:
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Work extracted: 0 k_BT
Demon memory: empty
0
Total W (k_BT)
0
Cycles
0%
Efficiency
Landauer's Principle
The Szilard engine (1929) extracts k_BT ln 2 of work per cycle using a single molecule and a demon who measures which side it occupies. This seems to violate the second law — but Landauer (1961) showed: erasing 1 bit of memory costs at least k_BT ln 2 of heat.
Bennett (1982) confirmed: the measurement is reversible; the erasure step is irreversible. Information has a physical cost. The total entropy production per cycle is exactly zero when accounting for demon's memory.