- #1
ObjectivelyRational
- 150
- 9
Recently read this article on Physorg:
https://phys.org/news/2018-01-efficiency.html
My questions are:
1. If "converting" information into energy requires a system (the demon I suppose) having a photodiode, processor, laser (light trap) all expending energy in order to cause the conversion, (i.e. the demon works ON the trapped particle) then how can it be said that "none of the information is lost but is instead almost entirely converted into work". i.e. How can we exclude the idea that work was provided to the system from the "outside" in an amount that looks like it was created by the "information" of the trapped particle?
2. What is the difference between the "traditional" second law of thermodynamics and the "generalized" second law of thermodynamics?
3. What factors determine conceptually when it is reasonable to describe some part of a system as "the" system, and to ignore the whole system (i.e. everything interacting with it), when discussing things like "efficiency" and the second law of thermodynamics?
https://phys.org/news/2018-01-efficiency.html
My questions are:
1. If "converting" information into energy requires a system (the demon I suppose) having a photodiode, processor, laser (light trap) all expending energy in order to cause the conversion, (i.e. the demon works ON the trapped particle) then how can it be said that "none of the information is lost but is instead almost entirely converted into work". i.e. How can we exclude the idea that work was provided to the system from the "outside" in an amount that looks like it was created by the "information" of the trapped particle?
2. What is the difference between the "traditional" second law of thermodynamics and the "generalized" second law of thermodynamics?
3. What factors determine conceptually when it is reasonable to describe some part of a system as "the" system, and to ignore the whole system (i.e. everything interacting with it), when discussing things like "efficiency" and the second law of thermodynamics?