| MAXWELL'S DEMON
AND MONSIEUR RANQUE |
There was a good deal of talent wasted in the olden days when demons and jinn were imprisoned in quaint bottles, sealed with the signet of Sulayman, and cast into the sea. It has taken hundreds of years, but we at last are on our way to learning how to harness the peculiar powers of such beings. As a starter, we now take the smaller demons, imprison them in T-tubes, seal with the mark of Georges Ranque, and put them to work sorting molecules according to energy content; the hot molecules in one pile and the cold ones in another. Such, at least, was my initial—and erroneous—reaction to the operation of the T-tube whose working drawings are reproduced as Figure No. 1.
This device, shown in assembly as Figure No. 2, effects a separation of a charge of compressed air of uniform temperature into two streams. The current from the longer arm may easily reach a temperature of +200°C., while the temperature of the air stream from the tube at the right may go as low as -50°C. The conditions of the air stream to the T-tube are "normal" temperature, that is 20°C., and pressure of only a few atmospheres. It is interesting
