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Re: TIME TO REFUTE THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
Posted:
Dec 24, 2012 10:30 AM
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Well, there were quite a few discussions in the 19th Century about some of the assumptions of thermodynamics. One of them involved Josef Loschmidt, who was the first to give an acceptable estimate of the size of an "air" molecule. He challenged both Maxwell and Boltzmann on their assumption regarding the temperature in a column of air. I forget all the arguments, but it seems to have caused both men some consternation and resulted in a reformulation of thermodynamics/statistical mechanics. But whether the issue was successfully resolved is anybody's guess. The conclusion that the universe will eventually wind down to its own cold death, a conclusion derived from some versions of classical thermodynamics, is also open to question.
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