Experiment finally proves 100-year-old thought experiment is possible

[n2doc]

(PhysOrg.com) -- By building a machine that uses 2,000 bouncing beads to spin a paddle and perform work, researchers from the University of Twente have finally realized a long-debated thought experiment.


A similar machine was first proposed in 1912 by the Polish physicist Marian Smoluchowski. In his thought experiment, he suggested that tiny moving particles could generate enough force to spin a windmill-type paddle. A locking mechanism such as a pawl could prevent backward motion, forcing the wheel to move in the forward direction only.

However, several years later, physicist Richard Feynman argued that, in reality, the bouncing beads would not be capable of doing meaningful work. Feynman showed that, since the entire system operates at the same temperature, a pawl would occasionally slip off the wheel. As a result, the system would generate zero net movement.

Now, physicist Devaraj van der Meer from the University of Twente and his colleagues have demonstrated that such a machine can in fact spin the paddles forward only, generating a positive net movement. The details of their study will be published in an upcoming issue of Physical Review Letters.

http://www.physorg.com/news195819314.html

[girl gone mad]

1. This is bad scientific journalism.

I wish Feynman were around to defend himself (and for so many other reasons, too). I'm not up to the task at all today, but I will say that Feynman's arguments were in regard to Maxwell's demon, a thought experiment designed to demonstrate that the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics could be violated. This experiment doesn't even vaguely resemble Maxwell's concept and the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics was not violated here.