Maxwell's demon in biological systems

✍ Scribed by I. Walker

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1976
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 466 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0001-5342
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00047321

✦ Synopsis

Boltzmann's gas model representing the second law of thermodynamics is based on the improbability of certain molecular distributions in space. Maxwell argued that a hypothetical 'being' with the faculty of seeing individual molecules (Maxweli's Demon) could bring about such improbable distributions, thus violating the law of entropy. However, it appears that to render the molecules visible for any observer would increase the entropy more than the demon could decrease it, hence 'Maxweli's Demon cannot operate' (Brillouin, 1951). In the study presented here MaxweU's Demon is interpreted in a general way as a biological observer system within (possibly dosed) systems which can upset thermodynamic probabilities provided that the relative magnitudes between observer system and observed system are appropriate.

Maxwell's Demon within Boltzmann's Gas Model thus appears only as a special case of inappropriate, relative magnitude between the two systems.

1. THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS, MAXWELL'S DEMON AND BRILLOUIN'S ARGUMENT

Maxwell's Demon was born in 1871 in discussions on the second law of thermodynamics. This law is formulated as follows:

dS >_ aQ T