[Physics] In Maxwell’s demon, why are all the cold gas molecules on the same side

entropystatistical mechanicsthermodynamics

In the Maxwell's demon thought experiment, initially, the gases in both boxes have the same temperature. The devil uses the door in the middle to allow the fast (hot) molecules on the left to pass to the right. But, we said the gases in both boxes have the same temperature. So, the right box is not completely hot. There exist still cold gas molecules on the right. But according to the thought experiment, the cold gas molecules are all collected on the left side of the chamber. Is this a contradiction in the paradox? How do slow molecules move as fast as other hot gas molecules?

Best Answer

Individual gas molecules are neither cold nor hot: They have kinetic energy.

The absolute temperature of a gas is proportional to the average of the kinetic energies of its molecules, and what's important here, is that the kinetic energies are not all the same. There is a statistical distribution of different energies in any given body of gas. Even so when the gas is all one "temperature."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%E2%80%93Boltzmann_statistics

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