Looking at the Second Law of Thermodynamics Through the Eyes of Maxwell’s Demon

the Second Law of Thermodynamics maintains a privileged status for the professional scientist being the key to the explanation of most physical events. On the one hand it stands as a postulate for an extremely efficient theory such as Phenomenological Thermodynamics, on the other it holds a place of honor within the realm of physical laws because of its uniqueness; no other law expresses "impossibility" or an upper limit, or rather, all which do are in some way related to it. In the same way, the Second Law should also be well established within the cultural background of the common man; like no other law it is constantly manifest in everyday experience. It is no case that Edgard Snow mentioned the Second Law in his famous appeal against the growing division between the "two cultures". It is nonetheless a fact that thermodynamics and its Second Law are only treated in a relatively marginal way as far as physics teaching is concerned. Only recently is the research in Physics education trying to establish the reasons of this situation (Tarsitani, 1994). The importance of the Second Law paradoxically does not coincide with a full understanding of the foundations it lies on and of its implications.