MAXWELL'S DEMON

MAXWELL'S DEMON

A despairing cry came from the kitchen. In the front room,
her husband swore under his breath. "She's dropped the
turkey," he said and rose from his chair. His two children
smaned.

But when Jim Maxwell joined Violet, his wife, in the kitchen
the turkey was still in the oven. But no mouth-watering smell
came from the bird, neither did it display the warm golden
colour that three hours in the oven should have given it.
The turkey was an unhealthy white and it was still quite cold.

"And don't tell me I forgot to turn the oven on," said Violet.

"I never said a word," complained her husband. "Perhaps the
pilot light ..." But when he looked inside the oven he saw
that the flames roared, the turkey remained cold, and the oven
walls were lined with ..."Icicles!" he exclaimed.

"Nonsense!" cried his wife and broke off a spike. "You're
right. It's like the inside of the freezer."

"Well then, cook the turkey in the freezer and load the oven
with the frozen hamburgers."

But Violet was not amused and told her husband to phone the
gas board.

After the Christmas holiday there arrived a man from the gas
board, followed by a man from the manufacturers, a team from
the Council and finally, from the University, Professor Eric
Kelvin.

The Professor was thrilled. "It's here at last," he cied,
"Maxwell's Demon!"

"It's not our Demon," protested Mrs Maxwell, "it arrived of
its own accord and we want it to go."

The Professor explained, "James Maxwell predicted this a
hundred years ago. He imagined a little box divided into two
chambers with a gate in between. One chamber comtains gas and
the other is empty. Imagine a demon sitting by the gate. He
could open the gate for a hot molecule to go through. After a
time the gas in one chamber will be cold and the gas in the
other chamber will be hot. It breaks the second law of
thermodynamics."

"This is a law-abiding household," stated Jim angrily, "What
are you accusing us of?"

But the Professor was already on the way to tell the press and
the television how he had proved Maxwell's Conjecture.

There arrived reporters, film crews and physicists from all
over the world.

On the third day a small middle-aged man and a small boy
arrived by foot. The boy was carrying a small black bag.
"Maxwell?" he enquired, "You've got trouble with your Demon?"

They led them into the kitchen and young Tom Maxewll pressed
his ear to the door. "It's something to do with conjuring," he
announced after a while, "and something about vile spirits."

"He's discovered Dad's whisky," began his sister.

But as the man's chant gained in power they heard, "I adjure
thee, most vile spirit. the entire spectre, the very
embodiment of Satan ..."

When the man reappeared he said, briskly,"It's all fixed, "but
let me know..." He gave Jim Maxwell a card, refused payment
and left with his assistant.

The oven worked perfectly. But the following morning Mrs.
Nernst from next door appeared. "Mrs Maxwell!" she cried,
"Can you get Jim to look at my fridge? It;s boiling inside and
it's cooked all the food in the freezer."