Maxwell's demon

Definitions of Maxwell's demon

1. noun

   an imaginary creature that controls a small hole in a partition that divides a chamber filled with gas into two parts and allows fast molecules to move in one direction and slow molecules to move in the other direction through the hole; this would result in one part of the container becoming warmer and the other cooler, thus decreasing entropy and violating the second law of thermodynamics
   example of:

   imaginary being, imaginary creature

   a creature of the imagination; a person that exists only in legends or myths or fiction