Part 6/10:
Maxwell's demon provides a thought-provoking challenge to this framework. Picture a box divided into two halves that contain air at uniform temperature with a tiny door in the middle. The demon possesses the ability to discern the speed of individual particles, opening the door selectively to allow only faster particles to pass from one side to another. Over time, this sorting creates a temperature gradient—one side becomes hot, while the other becomes cold—thereby reducing entropy and seemingly violating the second law of thermodynamics.
This thought experiment spurred significant debate among physicists regarding its implications for thermodynamics. Could the demon truly ignore the law of entropy? For many years, scholars sought to identify the flaws in the argument.