A demon of a device
Light makes molecular machines perform trick.
David Leigh at Edinburgh University has managed to make a molecular machine inspired by "Maxwell's demon" — a thought experiment that defies the second law of thermodynamics.
Read the story here.
Comments
THIS IS NOT A VIOLATION OF THE SECOND LAW
The following text is contradictory:
"Leigh's molecular machine can, he says, drive a chemical system away from equilibrium. According to the second law of thermodynamics — that a system tends towards equilibrium — this shouldn't happen. Fortunately, Leigh's device doesn't completely blow away the laws of physics: he needs to add energy to the system by shining light on it to make it work. The added energy explains how the system can move away from equilibrium."
Since the system uses EXTERNAL ENERGY OTHER THAN HEAT, it does NOT violate the second law of thermodynamics. Devices that violate the second law do exist and are even described in textbooks but nobody dares to talk about them.
[Editor's note: this post has been edited for length. Also: we, of course, agree. We were by no means intending to say that the second law had been broken - apologies if it read this way.]
Posted by: Pentcho Valev | February 1, 2007 04:40 PM
DO ROCKS THINK ?
When I read this report it impresses upon me the real question, for which we assume an answer.
"Providing the demon does not need to eat"
This sounds like a simple humorous comment-an exempt proposition for theoretical consideration.
What if, however, people are not simply an extra added appendage to the physical world-something added after that is in accord with all the rest. As we know simply, we are also a part of nature that MAYBE CAN be described as a whole without us, though it MUST be described as a whole that includes us. Remaining is a question, that challenges the entire conception of things-we have no answer to it so we avoid it-i.e. whether mankind-all living things are an exact natural part of the whole and equal to it, with respect to some concept that is as yet unarrived at.
I am taking issue with your dialogue for the reason that it reflects ways of thinking-habits of thought that are so deeply ingrained, that our accumulated language, may only slightly veer off from dismissing a viable and high priority question altogether as a non-existing possibility. Growing in our minds from this mistake are attitudes of omnipotence. Science application can unknowingly, then, build TRICKED DEVICES, manipulate nature. in the name of falsely perceived problems...build device resembling bombs from deeply reflected on principles and very good intentions.
There maybe possibly be no instance of a demon that does not consume food, theoretical or otherwise, if not even the energy from our own thought to bring about things can be defined as a component of any system.. Separateness, process, and underlying concept do not always fit together in the same closed circle(set) with uniformity. Though we are obviously distinct from our surroundings at some level , we share a unity in concept with it i.e.… At some point, the mechanical, natural, and universal mechanism of all thought- consequent by means of comparison-should (MUST) become distinct from mathematical comparison and evolve to only description (e.g. names vs. numbers). Is it possible that nature also, as its' given name, finds mathematical enumeration superfluous, in analogy to human thought in its’ ways of categorizing and sorting. A scientist knows this when he gives names to groups of similar but unique with respect to each other, things; but does not seem to conclude that this theoretically assumed discrepancy is not only not resolvable with mathematics, it is paramount to his entire conceptualization.
catagorizing things. In this manner the possibility of an exact conceptual equalness of life to all of nature(though rocks do not think) is being excluded in action. Is it not a fact that we accommodate a growing influence of expanding technology with the introduction of new words to the public, many of which appear directly to be slang-of criminal content-though appearing only humorous. It is established fact, if not common sense that degeneration of language is a certain indication of criminal disturbance to order. As a symptom is the fast rise of auto-immune disease as we proceed to attempt to conquer it with the same bad fortune of acquire habit that causes it.
Journalists’ should take more responsibility than to blindly accept scientific authority, or any authority. They are ultimately responsible for the education of all (including the scientist himself). The record and the record player are very often hard to distinguish from one another especially where science is concerned-some thoughtfulness in the mathematical adding (when assuming responsibility to consolidate science related language, to perfectly add (own your own?) descriptive words that are thought to educate(yet mis-educate), endorse exclusively economic matters, can make a world of difference in the tomorrow that all of our eyes are focused on when we read Nature. Are we reading the record or the record player?
http://www.marvinekirsh.com
http://www.authorsden.com/marvinelikirsh
Posted by: Marvin Kirsh | February 6, 2007 11:14 PM
A DEVICE THAT REALLY VIOLATES THE SECOND LAW
http://www.physorg.com/news110191847.html
"When exposed to a high-voltage electric field, water in two beakers climbs out of the beakers and crosses empty space to meet, forming the water bridge. The liquid bridge, hovering in space, appears to the human eye to defy gravity."
In a strong electrical field water dipoles are ordered in such a way that thermal agitation of molecules causes a SPECIFIC PRESSURE inside the liquid. In certain experiments this specific pressure can lift water: the energy needed for lifting is in fact heat absorbed from the surroundings. If lifted water is allowed to leave the field (for instance, when water has been lifted between the plates of a capacitor, the specific pressure could push it through a hole in one of the plates), the liquid will form, ideally, an eternal waterfall outside the strong field. Perhaps the device cannot be of any practical use as a heat engine but still it violates the second law of thermodynamics.
Pentcho Valev
pvalev@yahoo.com
Posted by: Pentcho Valev | October 1, 2007 07:19 AM
The same SPECIFIC PRESSURE generated inside the liquid by a strong electric field is also responsible for the enormous decrease in the force of attraction between the plates of a capacitor when immersed in water. Panofsky and Phillips call the effect "mysterious" and claim that "the decrease in force....cannot be explained by electrical forces alone": W. Panofsky, M. Phillips, Classical Electricity and Magnetism, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1962, pp. 111-116. See also fig. 6-7 on p. 112 demonstrating lifting of water between the plates.
Pentcho Valev
pvalev@yahoo.com
Posted by: Pentcho Valev | October 2, 2007 03:18 PM