Chapter 04 of 5
Landauer’s Limit
The high cost of forgetting and the heat of erasure.
- The Crisis
A Logical Stalemate
By the 1960s, physics was in trouble. The Demon seemed to sort molecules without using energy, violating the Second Law.
- The Architect
Rolf Landauer
An IBM researcher, Landauer, shifted the focus from the Demon's eyes to its memory. He asked what happens to the data the Demon collects.
- Mechanism
The Storage Problem
To sort molecules, the Demon must record their speeds. Eventually, its tiny brain runs out of storage space.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
According to Landauer's Principle, which specific action causes the Demon to release heat into the environment?
😈 Maxwell’s Demon: Defying the Second Law
- 01The Tyranny of EntropyWhy the universe is destined for a cold, chaotic end.
- 02Enter the DemonMaxwell’s tiny gatekeeper attempts a logic-defying feat.
- 03The Information ParadoxIs knowing where a molecule is 'free' energy?
- 04Landauer’s LimitThe high cost of forgetting and the heat of erasure.
- 05The Physics of DataInformation is physical, not just an abstract idea.