What namesake thought experiment intended to demonstrate the limitation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics features a malevolent creature opening doors in a chamber?
"Thought experiment A thought experiment (, ""Gedanken-Experiment"", or ""Gedankenerfahrung"",) considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. Given the structure of the experiment, it may not be possible to perform it, and even if it could be performed, there need not be an intention to perform it. The common goal of a thought experiment is to explore the potential consequences of the principle in question: Examples of thought experiments include Schrödinger's cat, illustrating quantum indeterminacy through the manipulation of a perfectly sealed environment and a tiny bit of radioactive substance, and Maxwell's demon, which"
"thought experiment, but with results that remain as uncertain as in the original case. The title character (though not a main character) of Robert A. Heinlein's ""The Cat Who Walks Through Walls,"" a kitten named Pixel, is of indeterminate existence, and as such, has the ability to turn up in places that are specifically sealed to outside access. When this ability is questioned, the answer is ""He's Schrödinger's cat,"" leading to the response, ""Then Schrödinger had better come get him."" In Glynne MacLean's 2009 short story ""Viennese Meow"" Schrödinger's cat tells his version of the famous thought experiment. In the"
"an elusive, biologically-engineered creature known as a Krenegee Beast that causes a change in a law of thermodynamics. This creature emits a field under which the Practice Effect works. The closer one is to the Krenegee Beasts, the more efficient the Practice that is done. The Practice Effect can take many months before an object reaches its maximum point of ""practice"", but the process is sped up if one is under a Felthesh Trance. The presence of a Krenegee Beast speeds up the process more than a Felthesh Trance. The chapter titles are all jokes, some puns, most in Latin"
"is a reference to Schrödinger's cat. Erwin Schrödinger was a pioneering developer of quantum theory whose approach stood in opposition to Werner Heisenberg, whose surname Walt used as his alias. Felinae is a subfamily of the cat family which includes the domestic cat. In Schrödinger's thought experiment, a cat trapped in a sealed box is killed by a flask of hydrocyanic acid, but by the principles of quantum mechanics is considered to be both alive and dead at the same time. Badfinger's ""Baby Blue"" is played during the final scene. According to series creator Vince Gilligan, this is reference to"
"evil which then results in a crime. The Q Class' Building looks normal, but has a secret room, not marked in the building's architectural plans. The first door to this room has a puzzle, which needs to be solved to unlock the door. The painting holds 10 dragons in it - to solve it, the painting needs to be changed to hold 9 dragons, signifying Kuzuryu's name. The second door is seen upon ascending some stars. This door looks more likely made to keep a prisoner in, since there is a small slider, which could be used to give food"
"would guess what they were. The pair were placed in adjacent rooms unable to see each other and an electric fan was used to prevent the pair communicating by sensory cues. Ownbey tapped a telegraph key to Zirkle to inform him when she was trying to send him a symbol. The door separating the two rooms was open during the experiment, and after each guess Zirkle would call out his guess to Ownbey who recorded his choice. Critics pointed out the experiment was flawed as Ownbey acted as both the sender and the experimenter, nobody was controlling the experiment so"
"stone artifact known as the ""Shining Trapezohedron"" which has the property of being able to summon a terrible being from the depths of time and space. The trapezohedron rests in a metal box with a hinged lid; the box is incised with designs representing living but distinctly alien creatures. The whole sits atop a column which is also incised with alien designs or characters. Blake’s interference inadvertently summons the malign being of the title, and he leaves the church aware that he has caused some mischief. The being can only go abroad in darkness, and is hence constrained to the"
"Torture Cell. This cell is a variation of Houdini's original creation, with an inner cage and two outer crossbars. Chinese Water Torture Cell The Chinese Water Torture Cell is a predicament escape made famous by Hungarian-American magician Harry Houdini. The illusion consists of three parts: first, the magician's feet are locked in stocks; next, he is suspended in mid-air from his ankles with a restraint brace; finally, he is lowered into a glass tank overflowing with water and the restraint is locked to the top of the cell. The original Chinese Water Torture Cell was built in England in 1911."
"there was some sort of magical, macabre and unknown force acting on the scene, and characters (one of them a cat) are also inexplicably driven by this force. The Iron Maiden is actually the torture device found at the Castle of Nurenberg, whose atmosphere is added to make the scene more strange and awful, although at the beginning the tale refers just to a casual walk of three people by the region. ""Iron Maiden"" was the nickname given to a research centrifuge gondola designed for submerging a human body in water to counteract the effects of high-g acceleration, at the"
"paths that history might take. Fiction writers have confined other animals besides cats in such contraptions. Dan Simmons's novel ""Endymion"" begins with hero Raul Endymion sentenced to death by imprisonment in a ""Schrödinger box"". Kōsuke Fujishima's manga series ""Ah! My Goddess"" featured a play on Schrödinger's Cat. During one storyline, a storage room was expanded to infinite proportions and the main characters encountered a Schrödinger's Whale, an extremely rare species with the ability to travel through space-time in a five-dimensional quantum state. The male lead in the series, Keiichi Morisato, befriends the whale and teaches it songs by real-life musical"
"Demon (thought experiment) In thought experiments philosophers occasionally imagine entities with special abilities as a way to pose tough intellectual challenges or highlight apparent paradoxes. Examples include: There are other creatures which feature in thought experiments about philosophy. One such creature is a utility monster, a creature which derives much more utility (such as enjoyment) from resources than other beings, and hence under a strict utilitarian system would have more or all of the available resources directed to it. Newcomb's paradox supposes a being who is believed to be capable of predicting human behavior; Robert Nozick suggested a ""being from"
"Bellefield Boiler Plant Bellefield Boiler Plant, also known as ""The Cloud Factory"" from its nickname's use in Michael Chabon's 1988 debut novel ""The Mysteries of Pittsburgh"", is a boiler plant located in Junction Hollow (referred to as ""The Lost Neighborhood"" in Chabon's book) between the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University in the Oakland district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Built in 1907 to provide steam heat for Carnegie Museum, it was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by the architectural firm Longfellow, Alden & Harlow. The 1907 smoke stack measured 150 feet (removed in 2010), and the newer stack"
"skeptics. Ownbey would attempt to send ESP symbols to Zirkle who would guess what they were. The pair were placed in adjacent rooms unable to see each other and an electric fan was used to prevent the pair communicating by sensory cues. Ownbey tapped a telegraph key to Zirkle to inform him when she was trying to send him a symbol. The door separating the two rooms was open during the experiment, and after each guess Zirkle would call out his guess to Ownbey who recorded his choice. Critics pointed out the experiment was flawed as Ownbey acted as both"
"The Citadel. In later appearances it is called Citadel Prison. During his control of Golden City, Law had all the prisoners in The Vault executed except for three. Of these three, only Ignition is identified. A mechanical device created by scientists working for Law, it is powered by energies from The Maelstrom and has one of three effects on all who pass through it: ""enhancement, mutation, or death as the Maelstrom energy decides"" . It is the gateway from the outside world into Golden City open for all who deem themselves worthy to pass through. Only 7.6% of those who"
"Physik Physik is a fantasy novel by Angie Sage. It is the third book in the seven-book ""Septimus Heap"" series. The story focuses primarily on the 500-year-old spirit of Queen Etheldredda, who attempts to use Septimus Heap to attain immortality. The book begins with Silas Heap and Gringe accidentally releasing the spirit of Queen Etheldredda - while Unsealing a room for Silas's Counter- Feet Colony - from a painting that she had been trapped in for 500 years. Her release also releases her pet Aie-Aie, which causes a Sickness by biting people. Once released, she drowns Septimus Heap, only to"
"mechanics.<br> Three of the most famous of these are: all of them proposed as thought experiments relevant to the discussions of the correct interpretation of quantum mechanics.<br> These thought experiments try to use principles derived from the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics to derive conclusions that are seemingly contradictory. In the case of Schrödinger's cat this takes the form of a seeming absurdity.<br> A cat is placed in a box sealed off from observation with a quantum mechanical switch designed to kill the cat when appropriately deployed. While in the box, the cat is described as being in a quantum"
"Chinese Water Torture Cell The Chinese Water Torture Cell is a predicament escape made famous by Hungarian-American magician Harry Houdini. The illusion consists of three parts: first, the magician's feet are locked in stocks; next, he is suspended in mid-air from his ankles with a restraint brace; finally, he is lowered into a glass tank overflowing with water and the restraint is locked to the top of the cell. The original Chinese Water Torture Cell was built in England in 1911. Houdini first performed the escape for an audience of one person as part of a one-act play he called"
"where its residents were frozen in suspended animation; a Vault where its residents were exposed to psychoactive drugs; a Vault where one resident, decided by popular vote, is sacrificed each year; a Vault with only one man and puppets; a Vault where its inhabitants were segregated; two Vaults with disproportionate ratios of men and women; a Vault where the inhabitants were exposed to the mutagenic Forced Evolutionary Virus (F.E.V.); and a Vault where the door never closed, exposing the inhabitants to the dangerous nuclear fallout. 17 control Vaults were made to function as advertised in contrast with the Vault experiments,"
"verses as ""Jabberwocky"" and ""The Walrus and the Carpenter"", and the episode involving Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The mirror which inspired Carroll remains displayed in Charlton Kings. Chapter One – Looking-Glass House: Alice is playing with a white kitten (whom she calls ""Snowdrop"") and a black kitten (whom she calls ""Kitty"") when she ponders what the world is like on the other side of a mirror's reflection. Climbing up onto the fireplace mantel, she pokes at the wall-hung mirror behind the fireplace and discovers, to her surprise, that she is able to step through it to an alternative world. In this"
"it is missing a noticeable amount of material, including many entire chapters. The name Schrödinger's Cat comes from a thought experiment in quantum mechanics. The first book, ""The Universe Next Door"", takes place in different universes in accord with the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics; in the second, ""The Trick Top Hat"", characters are unknowingly connected through non-locality, i.e., having once crossed paths they are joined in quantum entanglement; and the third book, ""The Homing Pigeons"", places characters in an ""observer-created universe"" in which Consciousness Causes the Collapse of the wavefunction. Taking place in Unistat, which is the novel's"
"consider his dangerous research. Alice and her father also visit Jekyll’s rooms, but although apologetic, the doctor insists on devoting his time to his patients. That night, however, Jekyll undertakes a dangerous experiment, swallowing a drug intended to releases his evil self. His body convulses, and he transforms into a hunched, twisted figure. The strange creature emerges from Jekyll’s room, bearing a note in Jekyll’s handwriting that orders the household staff to treat the stranger – “Mr Hyde” – as himself. Hyde then slips out into the night, terrorising the patrons of a nearby tavern before finding himself lodgings. From"
"Room Temperature (novel) Room Temperature is Nicholson Baker's second book, and continues the genre established in his first novel ""The Mezzanine"", though this time the action spans a few minutes at the narrator's home (in Quincy, Massachusetts). Mike is feeding his baby daughter, ""the Bug"", as her head rests in the crook of his arm. He blows in the direction of a mobile; twenty seconds and two dozen pages later, he is surprised to see the mobile move. Mike's thoughts wander as he contemplates, for example, the possibility of admitting to one's wife that one has been picking one's nose"
"diabolical experiments. In the middle of the night Jekyll hides himself in his bedroom after transforming into his alter ego Mr. Hyde and locks the door. Utterson decides to investigate the issue for himself and manages to find the dead body of Dr Lanyon in the basement and gathers his friends to then axe the bedroom door down, where Jekyll has been hiding and ultimately end the suspicions and the case about their tormented friend once and for all. . General references The Strange Game of Hyde and Seek The Strange Game of Hyde and Seek is a 2006 Australian"
"her names varies to demonstrate this metaphorical death. Minnie is embodied in her kitchen and sewing things. The cold weather freezes and breaks her preserve jars, symbolizing the cold environment of her home breaking her spirit, as well as the coldness which causes the characters to fail in human empathy towards each other. The cold weather can also symbolize how Mr. Wright treated Minnie.The bare kitchen can be seen as symbol of the lives of the former inhabitants. The male characters are clear symbols of ""law"" and cold rationality, while the women display an intuitiveness representative of the psychoanalytic movement,"
"setting"", proving him ""capable of using an understated, naturalistic style to powerful effect."" Cool Air ""Cool Air"" is a short story by the American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in March 1926 and published in the March 1928 issue of ""Tales of Magic and Mystery"". The narrator offers a story to explain why a ""draught of cool air"" is the most detestable thing to him. His tale begins in the spring of 1923, when he was looking for housing in New York City. He finally settles in a converted brownstone on West Fourteenth Street. Investigating a chemical leak"
"of the room itself is puckering like a pair of grotesque, blistered lips. He hears Tassoc, the mansion's owner, calling for help, and enters the room via the window. But Tassoc is not in the room—only an extraordinarily dangerous supernatural entity. Carnacki is saved only by the intervention of an unknown, second being, which utters the unknown last line of the Saamaa ritual, temporarily rendering the whistling entity powerless. With that, Carnacki throws himself through the window to escape. He then has the room demolished, and all parts burned in a blast furnace within a protective pentacle including an ancient"
"Question"". Merlin also remarks that Ghostwheel is certainly capable of passing the Turing Test, which is a test for a machine that can demonstrate the ability to convince an observer of a human-like personality. Ghostwheel seems to take its name from Gilgal Refaim or Rujm el-Hiri, an ancient stone circle in the Golan Heights. Gilgal Refaim may have once been a pagan place of worship or calendar, similar to Stonehenge. The name Merlin refers to Merlin, the character from Arthurian legends. Both were sorcerers who were imprisoned in a crystal cave, although the circumstances were somewhat different. Merlin of Amber"
"dematerialization, making things large, turning people into toilets filled with flowers, and the power to make escape-proof spirit jars. Known otherwise only as ""Malcolm,"" a homeless man who dressed in a garish outfit decorated with exclamation marks (possibly referencing his predecessor, the Quiz) drawn back to reveal his chest is actually a gilded cage containing a miniature jet with bird-like feet. Despite his odd appearance, he ""comes as no surprise,"" which allows him and anyone around him to be unnoticed or any attacks made by them to be seemingly out of nowhere. He mentions his desire to find the element"
"To gain entry to the building, Carmack concocted a sticky substance of thermite mixed with Vaseline that melted through the windows. However, an overweight accomplice struggled to get through the hole, and opened the window, setting off a silent alarm and alerting police. Carmack was arrested, and sent for psychiatric evaluation (the report mentions 'no empathy for other human beings' and describes Carmack as 'a brain on legs'). Carmack was then sentenced to a year in a juvenile home. He attended the University of Missouri–Kansas City for two semesters before withdrawing to work as a freelance programmer. Softdisk, a computer"
"of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. In the world of the games, experimental labs were made in the Exclusion Zone which allowed scientists to experiment with psychic abilities which arose following the disaster. Their experimentation resulted in a second disaster, causing physical and meteorological phenomena to manifest throughout the Zone, as well as the mutation of fauna and some humans. The Zone is littered with such ""Anomalies"": hazardous entities which seemingly defy physics, having various effects on any object entering them. Anomalies also often produce items known as ""Artifacts"", objects with special physical properties such as anti-gravity, or absorbing radiation. People"
"the ship and its occupants to shrink to doll size. In ""The Enemy of the World"" (1967), taking off while the doors were still open results in an uncontrolled decompression, causing the villainous Salamander to be blown out of the TARDIS. In the Seventh Doctor audio drama ""Colditz"" (2001), a character is killed by being halfway inside the TARDIS when it dematerialises. In ""Warriors' Gate"" (1981), the doors open during flight between two universes, admitting a Tharil named Biroc, and allowing the time winds to burn the Doctor's hand and seriously damage K9. In ""The Runaway Bride"" (2006), ""The Stolen"
"named himself after the English poet John Clare. As told by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein builds the creature in the attic of his boarding house through an ambiguously described scientific method consisting of chemistry (from his time as a student at University of Ingolstadt) and alchemy (largely based on the writings of Paracelsus, Albertus Magnus, and Cornelius Agrippa). Frankenstein is disgusted by his creation, however, and flees from it in horror. Frightened, and unaware of his own identity, the monster wanders through the wilderness. He finds brief solace beside a remote cottage inhabited by a family of peasants. Eavesdropping, the"
"with an outer universe, causes him to experiment with closed-geodesic space time in the Seventh Chamber, 20 years into the Thistledown's voyage. The results of his experiments are shattering in the extreme - he creates a unique pocket universe: The Way. The eponymous Way is an extension of the 7th Chamber, and was formed in the novels using the machinery of the 6th chamber. This machinery can best be described as a selective inertial damper, developed by engineers within the Thistledown with twofold purpose - to permit the Thistledown to accelerate to the limit of its engines (up to 99%"