Equation 4 · Part 2 · From Origins to Frontier: A History of Stochastic Thermodynamics and Complex Systems

Symbol k_B

W_{\max} = k_B T \ln 2

k_B

What this part means

$k_B$ is an input to the expression that computes the quantity on the left.

Its job in the formula

$k_B$ is an input to the expression that computes the quantity on the left.

Full expressionSymbol k_BArticle meaning

The passage around this formula

…extractable work. Szilard showed that the demon’s ability to extract work was tied exactly to the amount of information it acquired in the measurement — one bit of information corresponds to a definite quantity of work, $k_B$ T $\ln$ 2 , where $k_B$ is Boltzmann’s constant and T is the bath temperature. This is worth stating as an equation because it is the single quantity that recurs across the rest of this history: $W_{\max} = k_B T \ln 2$ . Szilard’s paper is a fact of the historical record: it is the first place a…

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Learn the underlying idea

A subscript is a label attached below a symbol. It often selects a time step, component, category, or member of a sequence.

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Sources cited in the article section

[1] Über die Entropieverminderung in einem thermodynamischen System bei Eingriffen intelligenter Wesen (On the Decrease of Entropy in a Thermodynamic System by the Intervention of Intelligent Beings) ↗

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