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Nov 3, 2026 17 min

Reversing Entropy with Maxwell's Demon

from PBS Space Time Hosted by PBS

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACEUploaded 25-07-18Can a demon defeat the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics?You can further support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetimeGet your own Space Time t­-shirt at http://bit.ly/1QlzoBiTweet at us! @pbsspacetimeFacebook: facebook.com/pbsspacetimeEmail us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] comComment on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/pbsspacetimeHelp translate our videos!https://www.youtube.com/timedtext_cs_...Previous Episode:The Misunderstood Nature of Entropyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfffy12uQ7gEntropy is sometimes described as a measure of disorder or randomness. The second law of thermodynamics – the law that entropy must, on average, increase – has been interpreted as the inevitability of the decay of structure. This is … misleading. As we saw in our episode on the physics of life, structure can develop in one region even as the entropy of the universe rises. Ultimately, entropy is a measure of the availability of free energy – of energy that isn’t hopelessly mixed in thermal equilibrium. Pump energy into a small system and complexity can thrive.. Hosted by Matt O'DowdWritten Matt O'DowdGraphics by Grayson BlackmonAssistant Editing and Sound Design by Mike PetrowMade by Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com)Special thanks to our Patreon Big Bang, Quasar and Hypernova Supporters: Big BangCoolAsCatsDavid NicklasAnton LifshitsJoey RednerFabrice EapQuasarTambe BarsbayMayank M.

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Reversing Entropy with Maxwell's Demon

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