MAXWELL'S DEMON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

• MAXWELL'S DEMON (noun)
  The noun MAXWELL'S DEMON has 1 sense:

1. an imaginary creature that controls a small hole in a partition that divides a chamber filled with gas into two parts and allows fast molecules to move in one direction and slow molecules to move in the other direction through the hole; this would result in one part of the container becoming warmer and the other cooler, thus decreasing entropy and violating the second law of thermodynamics

  Familiarity information: MAXWELL'S DEMON used as a noun is very rare.

• MAXWELL'S DEMON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An imaginary creature that controls a small hole in a partition that divides a chamber filled with gas into two parts and allows fast molecules to move in one direction and slow molecules to move in the other direction through the hole; this would result in one part of the container becoming warmer and the other cooler, thus decreasing entropy and violating the second law of thermodynamics

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

imaginary being; imaginary creature (a creature of the imagination; a person that exists only in legends or myths or fiction)