Is Szilard Engine Really Broken?

TL;DR

This paper investigates the validity of Szilard engines by applying Vanderwalls surface energy principles, showing that such engines can operate under certain conditions, challenging recent claims of their impossibility.

Contribution

It introduces a fundamental surface energy approach to analyze Szilard engines, providing a new perspective on their operation and addressing recent contradictions.

Findings

Engine can operate with a simple piston under specific conditions

Vanderwalls surface energy principle supports engine functionality

Challenges recent claims of Szilard engine impossibility

Abstract

In the Second Law of Thermodynamics which is a macroscopic physical law that states that in any isolated system, entropy can only increase and order, or organization, can only decrease. This means that in the long run, energy will always dissipate and systems will always become less organized. James Maxwell proposed the idea of Maxwell demon through his renowned thought experiment. Leo Szilard, on the other hand, demonstrated this idea with another thought experiment using a theoretical model of an information engine integrating Maxwell demon and a simplified one-particle engine. This demonstration satisfactorily resolved the contradiction of the second law of thermodynamics. Landauer established the relation between the theory of information and thermodynamics, and proved that information is physical. However, recent publication contradicts the operation of such engine based on the principle of considering a piston without internal structure. In the present work, it is studied with the more fundamental idea of Vanderwalls surface energy principle to substantiate the workability of such engine and has been observed that the engine can work with a similar established piston under defined conditions.