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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
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    Perspectives
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    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that A dissipative measurement using light to detect the molecule's location precludes a net conversion of heat into work in Szilard's engine.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.To detect which side contains the molecule, light is shone into one side and scattering indicates the molecule's presence.
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    • 2.If the system is in thermal equilibrium, there is background blackbody radiation at that temperature.
      ?

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    • 3.For the scattered light to be distinguishable from the background radiation, the photon's energy must be much greater than the mean energy of the blackbody spectrum (ℏν ≫ kT).
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Landauer's principle establishes that any logically irreversible operation, including measurement, dissipates at least kT ln2 of energy as heat.
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    • 2.A dissipative measurement that records the molecule's location constitutes a logically irreversible operation that destroys prior information about the system.
      ?

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    • 3.The minimum thermodynamic cost of this irreversible measurement equals or exceeds the maximum work kT ln2 extractable from one cycle of Szilard's engine.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Bennett's 1982 analysis of Maxwell's Demon demonstrates that the demon's memory must be reset between cycles, and this erasure dissipates exactly the work gained from isothermal expansion.
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    • 2.A dissipative light-based measurement physically instantiates the memory-writing step Bennett identifies, making the entropy cost concrete rather than merely logical.
      ?

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