Molecular-Sized Outward-Swinging Gate: Experiment and Theoretical Analysis of a Locally Nonchaotic Barrier

Abstract

We investigate the concept of molecular-sized outward-swinging gate, which allows for entropy decrease in an isolated system. The theoretical analysis, the Monte Carlo simulation, and the direct solution of governing equations all suggest that under the condition of local nonchaoticity, the probability of particle crossing is asymmetric. It is demonstrated by an experiment on a nanoporous membrane one-sidedly surface-grafted with bendable organic chains. Remarkably, through the membrane, gas spontaneously and repeatedly flows from the low-pressure side to the high-pressure side. While this phenomenon seems counterintuitive, it is compatible with the principle of maximum entropy. The locally nonchaotic gate interrupts the probability distribution of the local microstates, and imposes additional constraints on the global microstates, so that entropy reaches a nonequilibrium maximum. Such a mechanism is fundamentally different from Maxwell's demon and Feynman's ratchet, and is consistent with microscopic reversibility. It implies that useful work may be produced in a cycle from a single thermal reservoir. A generalized form of the second law of thermodynamics is proposed.

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References in corpus (2)

• Work and information processing in a solvable model of Maxwell's demon
• Maxwell and the normal distribution: A colored story of probability, independence, and tendency toward equilibrium

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Producing Useful Work in a Cycle by Absorbing Heat from a Single Thermal Reservoir: An Investigation on a Locally Nonchaotic Energy Barrier
• On the second law of thermodynamics: An ideal-gas flow spontaneously induced by a locally nonchaotic energy barrier
• Second law of thermodynamics: Spontaneous cold-to-hot heat transfer in a nonchaotic medium
• Searching for quantum non-thermodynamic phenomena