Brownian ratchet

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English

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Etymology

In reference to Brownian motion.

Noun

Brownian ratchet (plural Brownian ratchets)

  1. (physics) An apparent perpetual motion machine, the subject of a thought experiment, that would consist of a tiny paddle wheel and a ratchet, and might seem to be able to extract useful work from random fluctuations (heat) in a system at thermal equilibrium, in violation of the second law of thermodynamics.
    Synonym: Feynman-Smoluchowski ratchet

See also

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