Quantum knowledge cools computers: New understanding of entropy

From a laptop warming a knee to a supercomputer heating a room, the idea that computers generate heat is familiar to everyone. But theoretical physicists have discovered something astonishing: not only do computational processes ...

Strengthening the second law of thermodynamics

According to the second law of thermodynamics, the total entropy of a closed process can increase or stay the same, but never decrease. The second law guarantees, for example, that an egg can wobble off a table and leave ...

Could Maxwell's Demon Exist in Nanoscale Systems?

(PhysOrg.com) -- Maxwell’s demon may be making a comeback. Physicists know that the demon, an imaginary creature that decreases the entropy of a system, cannot exist in macroscopic systems due to the energy it requires ...

Osmosis: Everything you know about it is (probably) wrong

Osmosis – the flow of a solvent across a semipermeable membrane from a region of lower to higher solute concentration – is a well-developed concept in physics and biophysics. The problem is that, even though the concept ...

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