Realization of Maxwell&rsquo;s Hypothesis: A Heat-Electric Conversion in Contradiction to the Kelvin Statement

Xinyong Fu; Zitao Fu

doi:10.20944/preprints201607.0028.v1

Preprint Creative Version 1 NOT YET PEER-REVIEWED

Version 1 : Received: 14 July 2016 / Approved: 14 July 2016 / Online: 14 July 2016 (11:01:36 CEST)
Version 2 : Received: 12 December 2016 / Approved: 13 December 2016 / Online: 13 December 2016 (10:19:44 CET)
Version 3 : Received: 14 December 2016 / Approved: 14 December 2016 / Online: 14 December 2016 (09:12:35 CET)
Version 4 : Received: 14 March 2017 / Approved: 14 March 2017 / Online: 14 March 2017 (13:33:44 CET)

In a vacuum tube, two identical and parallel Ag-O-Cs surfaces, with a work function of approximately 0.8eV, ceaselessly emit thermal electrons at room temperature. The thermal electrons are so controlled by a static uniform magnetic field that they can fly only from one Ag-O-Cs surface to the other, resulting in a potential difference and an electric current, and transferring a power to a resistance outside the tube. The ambient air is a single heat reservoir in the experiment, and all the heat extracted by the tube from the air is converted into electric energy without producing any other effect. The authors maintain that the experiment is in contradiction to the Kelvin statement of the second law of thermodynamics.

Maxwell’s demon; energy regeneration; energy circulation; entropy decreasing

Comment 1

Received: 5 February 2017
Commenter: Hanno Essén
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.

Comment: This article is clear and convincing. There is also a video of the expeiment. The current that is extracted from room temperature heat and a permanent magnetic field is maximum about 50 fA and the useful work that can be obtained from this is, of course, tiny, but we are dealing with matters of principle. If one can get any work out at all from a stationary system at constant temperature we have a form of violation fo the second law.

+ Respond to this comment

Your full name

Your affiliation information (e.g., name of your university/institution/organization)

Not displayed online.

Your Email address (not made public)

Please leave your comment to this article below.

Mathematical equations can be typed in either LaTeX formats \\[ ... \\] or $$ ... $$, or MathML format <math> ... </math>. Try the LaTeX or MathML example.

Type equation:

Preview:

Copy equation into message below

Close menu

Please click a symbol to insert it into the message box below:

Please enter the link here:

Optionally, you can enter text that should appear as linked text:

Copy link into message below

Close menu

Please enter or paste the URL to the image here (please only use links to jpg/jpeg, png and gif images):

Copy image into message below

Close menu

Type author name or keywords to filter the list of references in this group (you can add a new citation under Bibliography):

No existing citations in Discussion Group

Wikify editor is a simple editor for wiki-style mark-up. It was written by MDPI AG for Sciforum in 2014. The rendering of the mark-up is based on Wiky.php with some tweaks. Rendering of mathematical equations is done with MathJax. Please send us a message for support or for reporting bugs.

Close menu

Please declare any conflicts of interest you may have with this paper, financial or otherwise.

I do not have a conflict of interest

I would like to declare a conflict of interest

Display my name on the website I want to get recognition for my comment on Publons

[what’s this?]. Link your accounts here I accept the following conditions:

Comments must follow the standards of professional discourse and should focus on the scientific content of the article. Insulting or offensive language, personal attacks and off-topic remarks will not be permitted. Comments must be written in English. Preprints reserves the right to remove comments without notice. Readers who post comments are obliged to declare any competing interests, financial or otherwise.

Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.

Outstanding/highlight paper		100%
Significant contribution		0%
Incremental contribution		0%
No contribution		0%

Conclusions well supported		100%
Most conclusions supported (minor revision needed)		0%
Incomplete evidence (major revision needed)		0%
Hypothesis, unsupported conclusions, or proof-of-principle		0%

Realization of Maxwell’s Hypothesis: A Heat-Electric Conversion in Contradiction to the Kelvin Statement

Abstract

Subject Areas

Readers' Comments and Ratings (1)

Importance: How significant is the paper to the field?

Soundness of evidence/arguments presented: